Nigeria is poised to become the third largest exporter of gas worldwide, once the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Train-7 plant kicks off in December, the company said Saturday.
Tayo Ogini, NLNG general manager, production, made the projection during a presentation made to Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, at the facility in Bonny Island, Rivers.
The presentation was made to update the minister on the project’s progress thus far.
In his presentation, Ogini said Nigeria currently ranks as the fourth exporter of gas in the world.
He noted that the NLNG has six operational trains (gas plants), with the first built in 1989.
The six trains have a combined capacity to produce 22 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
He reiterated plans by the federal government to invest seven billion dollars on the Train-7 project, which would boost production capacity to 30 mtpa, thereby making Nigeria the third largest exporter of gas in the world after Qatar and Australia.
In his remarks, Kachikwu said the NLNG should aim at exporting 40 mtpa of LNG over the next 30 years.
He spoke on the issue of gas pricing, urging the national gas company to bridge the gap that arises from reduced demand of domestic gas by importers and marketers.
The minister said the upcoming 2019 elections would not interfere with the Train-7 project.
He said that opportunities lay in “smaller investments,” including the Brass and Olokola LNG projects.
“We have opportunities that are stranded everywhere – Brass LNG in terms of shareholding and financing; OKLNG in terms of even taking off the ground,” he said.
“Let’s begin to look at minimal investments, through structures and designs and reconfiguration and expert advice.”
Also at the facility tour, Simbi Wabote, executive secretary, Nigerian Content Management Development Board (NCDMB), said the agency was working to ensure the Train-7 project would be built with due consideration to Nigeria’s local content law in the industry.
Wabote said: “We worked with them conscientiously to ensure that the FEED ( Front End Engineering Design) contract was signed within record time and we have a clear service level agreement between ourselves and NLNG to ensure that we fast-track the contracting cycle.
“This is also very important to ensure that we take FID at the end of the year as soon as we finish FEED work.
“We are going to focus more with them to ensure that the letters of the law are properly interpreted in terms of construction phase of the plant as well as its management phase.”
