CAPE TOWN, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Angola Liquefied Natural

Gas (ALNG) is considering future expansion options including

adding a mini train of three million metric tons a year, as new

gas supplies to the plant ramp up over the next 12 months,

energy executives told Reuters.

Extra supplies expected from Chevron ( CVX ) by year-end and

the New Gas Consortium by the end of 2025 will help to take the

plant to full capacity for the first time.

Africa's second-largest crude producer plans to pivot more

towards natural gas to capture growing demand in key markets in

Europe and Asia.

Angola LNG plant, commissioned more than a decade ago at a

cost of $12 billion, has been running below its nameplate

capacity for years as gas production fell at the mature fields

supplying the facility.

Current supply averages about 700 million standard cubic

feet a day (scf), or 70% of operating capacity, government

officials said.

New Gas Consortium, a gas project operated by the Azule

Energy partnership between BP and Eni is

expected to start production at the end of next year, six months

earlier than initially planned, said Azule CEO Adriano Mongini.

The additional supplies from the project will allow ALNG to

run at full capacity, with more feedstock anticipated from

Angola's first gas specific exploration well to be drilled early

next year, he said on the sidelines of an African energy

conference in Cape Town.

"Angola LNG is already thinking about this expansion, if

it's a mini train or one additional train, so there are many

ways to do it," Mongini told Reuters.

Angola LNG, which includes Chevron ( CVX ), TotalEnergies

and Sonangol as stakeholders, is designed for a single train of

5.2 million tons a year.

The managing director of Chevron's ( CVX ) Southern African

business, Billy Lacobie, said it supported efforts to maximise

LNG exports and support the domestic market.

Chevron's ( CVX ) Sanha Lean Gas Connection will increase ALNG

utilisation and supply gas for 15 years by filling about 40% of

the plant from the end of 2024, an ALNG spokesman said.

Angola's recently released 25-year gas master plan signalled

ambitions to develop more than 40 gas fields and said that the

country has 38 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of discovered gas and

another 56 tcf of prospective resources.