Senegal Achieves Milestone with Africa’s First LNG-to-Power Project
Senegal has successfully launched Africa’s first LNG-to-power project, with a floating power plant from Türkiye’s Karpowership fleet now producing energy using liquefied natural gas off the coast of Dakar.
The achievement represents a significant milestone for a country with relatively short oil and gas history and a nascent LNG industry. The Turkish company accomplished this feat in cooperation with the Société nationale d’électricité du Sénégal (Senelec), combining innovative floating technology with LNG supply chains.
Karpowership’s floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), LNGT Africa, successfully supplied regasified LNG to a powership from the company’s fleet. According to Karpowership, the combination of FSRUs and powerships provides a groundbreaking solution for introducing LNG use for power generation in countries lacking natural gas infrastructure or supply.
The project achieved a historic first with the successful ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of LNG between LNGT Africa and a LNG supply vessel off Senegal’s coast. Following this operation, power generation began on April 29, 2025, when gas was transferred from the FSRU to Karpowership’s powership KPS 10.
The FSRU, developed by Sembcorp Marine (now Seatrium) in Singapore, measures 272 meters in length with a capacity of 125,000 cubic meters. It is owned by Karmol, a joint venture between Karpowership and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL).
The FSRU arrived in Senegalese waters in May 2021 and was connected to the Karadeniz Powership Ayşegül Sultan through gas pipelines. This 235MW capacity vessel has been operational since October 2019, initially supplying 15% of Senegal’s electricity with 220MW of power.
Karpowership has since expanded its capabilities to cover 25% of the nation’s electricity needs, with current installed capacity reaching 335 MW through power barges stationed at the Port of Dakar.
The transition to natural gas represents a major advancement in cleaner energy production, aligning with the Senegalese government’s goals to reduce electricity costs and accelerate the national energy transition as part of its Emerging Senegal Plan introduced in 2018.
Source: offshore-energy.biz
