The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell, Total and Eni have signed the front-end engineering design contract of the Train 7 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited.
The signing of the contract was done in London yesterday and the event also witnessed the repayment of $5.45bn loan for Trains 1 to 6 by the NLNG shareholders. The company had sourced the principal amount of $4.043bn from its shareholders in their respective shareholding proportions to partly fund the construction of Trains 1-6.
Tony Attah, Nigeria LNG’s chief executive officer while speaking at the contract signing, noted that the vision of NLNG is to be a global player that helps to build a better Nigeria.
According to him:
“We are looking forward to the growth. When I am talking about growth I am talking about Train 7. We have the support we need, we have the support from the shareholders, from the government, from the board of directors.”
According to Blomberg, NLNG and three oil majors signed engineering and design contracts. Among contractors participating are Saipem SpA, TechnipFMC Plc, and Chiyoda Corp. A final investment decision could be taken later this year.
Group Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, expressed the corporation’s readiness to support the Federal Government’s aspirations to actualise the Train 7.
Recall that Nairametrics had earlier reported plans by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to invest more than $10 billion into the gas company to boost its capacity by 40%.
Nigeria, last year, shipped an estimated 46 million cubic metres of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), making it the fourth largest exporter of LNG in the world.
With six trains currently operational, NLNG’s plant, on Bonny Island in Rivers State, is capable of producing 22 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) of LNG, and 5 MTPA of NGLs (LPG and Condensate) from 3.5 Billion (standard) cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas intake.
NLNG’s near-term expansion plans include construction of the seventh train to complement the existing six train structure, which when in operation will up the company’s total production capacity to 30 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG.
Nigeria LNG Limited was incorporated as a limited liability company on May 17, 1989, to harness Nigeria’s vast natural gas resources and produce LNG and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) for export.
It is owned by four shareholders, namely, the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) – 49%, Shell Gas B.V. – 25.6%, Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France – 15%, and Eni International – 10.4%.
