The cost of Angola's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant is likely to double to $8 billion due mainly to rising construction costs in the booming African nation's economy, a state-run newspaper said on Monday.

Oil firms Chevron Corp., British Petroleum and Total together own a majority stake in the Angola LNG plant, which is expected to begin production in 2012 as part of a bid to tap Angola's vast natural gas deposits.

The state-owned Sonangol oil firm has a 35.4 percent interest in the project.

Rising costs for construction materials and dredging of land have added a projected $4 billion to the project budget, project director Paul Oen was quoted as saying in the Jornal de Angola.

Located near the coastal town of Soyo in northern Angola, the plant will produce around 5.2 million metric tonnes a year of LNG and related products, according to Chevron's website www.chevron.com.

The output will help meet growing domestic demand in Angola, whose economy is one of the fastest growing in Africa, as well as supply export markets in Europe and the United States.

Angola rivals Nigeria as sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producer.


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