BP Decides To Invest In Offshore LNG Project In Africa

BP plc (LON:BP) (NYSE:BP) recently announced final investment decision (FID) for developing the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project, located offshore Mauritania and Senegal.

At roughly 2 kilometres below the surface of the sea, the project is touted to be the deepest offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) development in Africa. Importantly, the investment plans for the phase 1 development of the LNG project reflects BP’s focus to capitalize on the rising gas demand for clean energy.

The British energy giant will employ a plant, in an advanced floating vessel, that will cool down the produced natural gas to liquid. From the Tortue field, with estimated 15 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas resources, the integrated energy company is expecting its floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility to generate 2.5 million tonnes of LNG annually.

BP and its partners have been anticipating the start of work on the cross-border project since the first quarter of 2019, while the companies project the development to produce first gas in 2022. In the LNG development, BP has operatorship interest with 62% stake in Mauritania and 60% in Senegal. The remaining 28% and 30% respective stakes in Mauritania and Senegal will be in the ownership of other partners that include Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE:KOS) .

Headquartered in London, BP currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Meanwhile, better-ranked players in the energy space are Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) and Unit Corporation (NYSE:UNT) . While Enterprise Products carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Unit Corp sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Enterprise Products will likely post earnings growth of 36.4% and 6.5% through 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Unit Corp surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters, the average positive earnings surprise being 21.3%.

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