More jobs and business opportunities for host communities of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and other Nigerians are in the offing, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said.
The nation’s oil and gas coordinating firm further said it has commenced discussion with its partners for the construction of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Train 8.
Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, who disclosed this recently to journalists in Abuja, stressed that having more LNG facilities would lead to “more jobs, more employment, more expansion of the economy. We agree with this and we are also chasing that appropriately.”
The Nigeria LNG, which is jointly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the NNPC with 49 per cent shares; Shell Gas B.V. –25.6 per cent; Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France–15 per cent; and Eni International N.A. N.V. S.àr.l –10.4 per cent, operates a gas liquefaction complex comprising six complete liquefaction trains and associated facilities with a capacity of 22 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in Bonny Island, Rivers State.
Though shareholders of the Nigeria LNG signed the Final Investment Decision (FID) for Train 7 in December 2019, to expand the complex to 30 mtpa from the current 22 mtpa, with the addition of the seventh train with 8mtpa capacity, the project was yet to kick off due mainly to disagreements over the implementation of extant local content parameters in the project.
Kyari explained that the NNPC was making efforts at establishing gas hubs that would engender the creation of other LNG projects, emphasising that the current focus of the government, the corporation and its partners was on gas and making sure that monetising gas was their main objective.
“And because the PIB itself will ultimately come to pass where emphasis on gas, monetising gas, and creating the right fiscal environment for gas development, will lead to some more LNG projects.
“But more quickly, as we have done FID on Train 7, we have already started speaking to our partners to go to train 8. And indeed, Mr. President’s question was that he was surprised that we are still on train 7.
“He thought we should be talking about Train 8, and I agree with him absolutely because there was enormous room for us to improve.
“But it’s not the number of train that is significant, it’s the volume of production that is important. For instance, the Train 7 is adding almost close to what the current trains are doing.
“We will do this, we will push because this is the easy one and supply the gas and expand it, and of course, we are going to get more and more benefit”.
Nigerian problems: They now want to kill this baby Train 7 before it even arrives? If they were foresighted enough, why didn’t they suggest it earlier on so the two projects would be signed together…
They’re not even ashamed to admit that “this is the easy one”. No shame..
Abeg, allow train 7 project to begin first before u start looking for what to politic with against 2023..