The world leader in natural gas, the Russian company Gazprom, just signed a cooperation agreement in the area of natural gas and energy with the third African oil producer, Equatorial Guinea.

By Aliou Diongue, Dakar

The Russians have set their course for Equatorial Guinea, Africa’s third oil producer! What would have instigated turmoil in the capitals of the West during the Cold War, almost went unnoticed. Times have changed and sensibilities have changed with them. Yet, the cooperation agreement that the Russian giant, Gazprom, just signed with the Equatoguinean liquified natural gas company (EG/LNG) has every reason to go for this deal, even if the eact terms of the agreement have not been made public.

Equatorial Guinea’s natural gas reserves are estimated to be 40 billion cubic metres. Gazprom is actually the world’s leading producer of natural gas and Equatorial Guinea, after Angola and Nigeria, is the number three oil producer in Africa. The signing of this cooperation agreement concerning “the natural gas and energy sectors” took place during Gazprom’s chairman, Alexei Miller’s visit to Malabo. Mr. Miller was the head of an important delegation made up of Russian political and economic public figures. This demonstrates the significance that the cooperation agreement with Malabo represents for Moscow.

Invitation

Equatorial Guinea’s natural gas reserves are estimated to be 40 billion cubic metres. Alexei Miller extended an invitation to the country’s president, Theodoro Obiang Nguema, to visit Moscow. Gazprom should not feel too far from home by partnering with EG/LNG. The Equatoguinean liquified natural gas is pretty cosmopolitan in the make-up of its capital. With 60% of the company’s shares belonging to the American oil company, Marathon Oil Corporation, 25% owned by the national Equatoguinean company and 8.5% and 6.5% belonging respectively to the Japanese corporations, Mitsui and Marubeni.