The New Gas Consortium: Transforming Angola’s Energy Landscape
The New Gas Consortium (NGC), inaugurated in 2025 with an investment of approximately $4 billion, represents one of the most ambitious gas-to-power and gas processing projects in Sub-Saharan African history. Located near Soyo in Zaire Province, the facility is designed to capture, process, and distribute natural gas from Angola’s offshore fields for domestic power generation, industrial supply, and feedstock to the adjacent Angola LNG export plant.
The NGC is not merely an infrastructure project; it is the operational embodiment of Angola’s strategic pivot from an economy that wastes its gas resources to one that monetises them. By creating a gas processing hub capable of supplying both domestic and export markets, the NGC addresses multiple national priorities simultaneously: energy security, economic diversification, flaring reduction, and industrial development.
Consortium Structure and Partners
The NGC brings together Angola’s principal upstream gas producers with the state oil company in a consortium structure designed to aggregate gas supply from multiple offshore sources:
| Partner | Role |
|---|---|
| Chevron | Gas supply from Cabinda area, technical expertise |
| TotalEnergies | Gas supply from Blocks 17 and 32 |
| Azule Energy | Gas supply from Blocks 15/06, 18, and 31 |
| Sonangol | State participation, domestic market coordination |
The consortium structure is significant because it overcomes one of the fundamental challenges of gas monetisation in Angola: no single operator produces sufficient gas to justify standalone processing infrastructure, but aggregated supply from multiple operators creates the volume needed to support a world-scale processing facility.
ANPG serves as the regulatory supervisor, ensuring that the NGC’s operations align with the national gas utilisation master plan and that gas allocation between domestic use and LNG export optimises national benefit.
Facility Description and Capabilities
Gas Processing
The NGC facility receives raw natural gas via multiple offshore pipelines from producing blocks in the Lower Congo Basin and Cabinda concession area. Gas processing at the facility includes:
- Slug catching and metering: Reception and measurement of gas from multiple supply sources
- Acid gas removal: Amine-based treatment to remove CO2 and H2S to pipeline specifications
- Dehydration: Molecular sieve or glycol-based water removal
- NGL extraction: Fractionation of natural gas liquids (propane, butane, condensate) for separate commercialisation
- Gas compression: Compression to pipeline transport pressure for distribution to end users
- Gas conditioning: Final quality adjustment to meet specifications for LNG feedgas, power generation fuel, or industrial use
Gas Distribution
The NGC’s gas distribution network connects to multiple downstream uses:
Angola LNG plant: Processed gas is routed to the adjacent Angola LNG plant at Soyo as supplemental feedgas, improving plant utilisation rates and enabling potential expansion. See our Angola LNG terminal article.
Power generation: Gas is supplied to gas-fired power plants in the Soyo area and, through the evolving gas transmission pipeline network, to power generation facilities further south. The gas-to-power strategy targets combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants offering approximately 50 percent thermal efficiency, significantly better than the 30-35 percent efficiency of existing diesel generators.
Industrial consumers: Gas supply to industrial facilities, including cement plants, mineral processing operations, and potential petrochemical developments, supports Angola’s economic diversification objectives. For petrochemical aspirations, see our petrochemical ambitions article.
LPG distribution: Propane and butane extracted from the NGL fractionation process are distributed as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking fuel, displacing charcoal and biomass that contribute to deforestation and indoor air pollution.
Feedgas Supply and the Sanha Connection
The NGC’s gas supply is intrinsically linked to the Sanha Lean Gas Connection, Chevron’s pipeline project that commenced operations in December 2024. The Sanha system delivers non-associated gas at an initial rate of 80 mmscf/d, ramping to 300 mmscf/d, from fields in the Cabinda concession area.
The Sanha Lean Gas Connection is the anchor supply source for the NGC, providing a predictable, non-associated gas stream that complements the more variable associated gas supply from other producing blocks. The combination of associated and non-associated gas sources provides the NGC with supply diversity that improves operational reliability and plant utilisation.
Additional feedgas supply is anticipated from:
- Quiluma and Maboqueiro gas developments (Azule Energy, Block 15/06)
- Associated gas capture improvements across producing blocks
- Future gas discoveries including the Gajajeira prospect (1+ tcf gas, 100M bbl condensate)
For the broader gas reserves picture, see our natural gas reserves assessment.
Gas-to-Power: The Electricity Dimension
Angola’s Power Sector Challenge
Angola’s electricity sector suffers from chronic undercapacity and unreliable supply. The country’s installed generation capacity is approximately 5 to 6 GW, of which a significant portion is unavailable due to maintenance issues, seasonal hydropower variability, and ageing diesel plant inefficiency. Per capita electricity consumption is well below the Sub-Saharan African average, with large portions of the population and economy lacking reliable grid access.
The primary generation sources are:
- Hydroelectric: ~60-65% of capacity (concentrated in the Kwanza River system, including the Lauca, Cambambe, and Capanda dams)
- Diesel/HFO thermal: ~25-30% of capacity (high cost, high emissions, dependent on imported fuel)
- Gas-fired: ~5-10% of capacity (growing with NGC gas supply)
How Gas-to-Power Changes the Equation
Replacing diesel generation with gas-fired combined cycle plants offers transformative economics:
| Parameter | Diesel Generation | Gas-Fired CCGT |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel cost per MWh | $100-180 | $30-60 |
| Thermal efficiency | 30-35% | 48-55% |
| CO2 emissions per MWh | 650-800 kg | 350-400 kg |
| Fuel import dependence | 100% imported | Domestic gas |
| Availability | Limited by fuel supply | High with pipeline gas |
The economic savings from diesel-to-gas conversion are substantial. For a 500 MW power plant operating at 80 percent capacity factor, the annual fuel cost saving from gas versus diesel ranges from $300 million to $500 million, depending on diesel import prices and gas supply costs.
Planned Gas-Fired Power Plants
The NGC facility is designed to supply gas to multiple power generation projects:
Soyo Combined Cycle Plant: A CCGT power plant in the Soyo area designed to utilise NGC-processed gas for grid electricity supply. Capacity is planned at several hundred megawatts.
Mobile and modular gas turbine units: Rapid-deployment gas turbine generators that can be installed near gas supply points to provide near-term power generation while larger CCGT plants are constructed.
Industrial co-generation: Combined heat and power (CHP) installations at industrial facilities in the Soyo area that simultaneously generate electricity and useful heat from gas, achieving total energy efficiencies of 70 to 80 percent.
For the broader power sector context, see our coverage of power generation in Angola.
Economic Impact and National Significance
Fiscal Benefits
The NGC generates fiscal benefits through multiple channels:
- Gas sales revenue from domestic gas commercialisation
- LPG export revenue from propane and butane sales
- Reduced fuel import bill as gas displaces imported diesel
- Tax revenue from industrial development enabled by gas supply
- Royalties and fees under the gas utilisation framework
Employment and Local Development
The NGC created significant employment during construction (estimated 5,000 to 8,000 jobs at peak construction) and sustains approximately 500 to 1,000 permanent operational jobs. The Soyo area has experienced economic development driven by the concentration of gas infrastructure, including improvements to roads, port facilities, and social services.
Environmental Benefits
By capturing and commercialising gas that would otherwise be flared, the NGC directly reduces Angola’s greenhouse gas emissions. The facility’s contribution to flaring reduction is estimated at 1 to 2 bcm per year, equivalent to 2 to 5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided annually. See our gas flaring reduction article for the regulatory context.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
The NGC project encountered several challenges during development and construction that provide valuable lessons for future gas infrastructure projects in Angola:
Logistics constraints: Transporting major equipment modules to the Soyo site required careful logistics planning, with limited road capacity, port facilities, and heavy-lift capability creating bottlenecks.
Workforce mobilisation: Assembling a skilled construction workforce in a remote location required investment in temporary accommodation, training facilities, and logistics support.
Interface management: Coordinating feedgas supply commitments from multiple upstream operators, each operating under different PSA terms and investment timelines, required complex commercial negotiations.
COVID-19 impact: The pandemic disrupted construction schedules, supply chains, and workforce availability, contributing to timeline extensions.
These challenges are relevant for the planning of future gas infrastructure projects, including potential LNG expansion and additional gas processing capacity. For EPC market analysis, see our gas processing plant construction article.
Future Development Potential
The NGC facility was designed with expansion potential to accommodate growing gas supply and demand:
Processing capacity expansion: Additional processing trains can be installed to handle increased feedgas volumes from new gas field developments.
Pipeline network extension: The gas transmission pipeline network from Soyo can be extended southward toward Luanda and other industrial centres, expanding the domestic gas market.
NGL and petrochemical feedstock: As NGL extraction volumes grow, the NGC could provide feedstock for a petrochemical industry, including propylene and ethylene production. See our petrochemical ambitions article.
Hydrogen production: In the longer term, the NGC’s gas processing capability could be adapted for hydrogen production (blue hydrogen using natural gas with carbon capture), aligning with global energy transition trends.
Relevance for Investors and Operators
The NGC represents a proven model for gas monetisation in Angola that can be replicated and scaled. Key takeaways for stakeholders include:
Consortium models work: Aggregating gas supply from multiple operators through a consortium structure overcomes the volume challenge that prevented individual operators from justifying standalone gas infrastructure.
Policy support is essential: The NGC’s success depended on sustained government policy support, including gas utilisation mandates, flaring reduction targets, and fiscal incentives for gas investment.
Infrastructure begets infrastructure: The NGC and Angola LNG create an integrated gas hub at Soyo that reduces the marginal cost of additional gas processing and distribution capacity.
Domestic market development: The gas-to-power dimension provides a domestic demand anchor that diversifies the revenue base beyond LNG export.
For the broader investment landscape, see our analysis of upstream investment opportunities and LNG project finance.
External resources: ANPG Official Website | World Bank Angola | IEA Africa Energy Outlook