Africa’s foremost gas firm, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) says its plant expansion plans is a consolidation of its ongoing plans to curb carbon emissions and realization of its goal to increase capacity.

NLNG’ Managing Director, Dr Phillip Mshelbila, who disclosed this at the Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference (NOG) 2022 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, confirmed that the company is working on a plant expansion plan, which will lead to establishment of Train 8.

Represented by NLNG’s General Manager, Production, Adeleye Falade at a panel session, titled: ‘Strategies for Confronting Energy Transition,’ Dr Mshelbila announced that Train 8 will be different from the previous trains as the new Train 8 will not only address the issue of increased capacity but will lay emphasis on the reduction of carbon emissions.

The company’s Train project, which is being handled by its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor, the SCD JV (Saipem, Chiyoda and Daewoo Joint Venture) and projected for completion in four years, is already ongoing in Bonny, Rivers State.

Mshelbila, who was said that the company also lay emphasis on the value it gets in keeping the environment clean not only on the huge taxes and dividend it gives to the government and shareholders.

According to him, when the company started with providing Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) into the Nigeria Market, it started with 50,000 tons and progressively the company has moved into the Nigerian market about 400,000 tons last year and now has the target to push into the domestic market about 500,000 tons.

These efforts, he said, are to reduce deforestation, reduce emissions by providing cleaner fuel as well as save lives.

The company’s acting Manager, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, NLNG, Mrs. Anne-Marie Palmer-Ikuku, said the supply of 100 percent of its Liquefied Petroleum Gas production (Propane and Butane) to the Nigerian market had made a positive impact.

She said the move, which was approved by the company’s Board of Directors, had led to the reduction in the prices of LPG, also known as cooking gas, across the country.

Mrs. Palmer-Ikuku said prioritising the domestic market would help to deepen gas utilization in Nigeria in line with the Federal Government’s declaration of years 2021 to 2030 as the Decade of Gas.

She, who noted that NLNG was currently the highest single supplier of LPG into the domestic market, with an estimated 400,000 metric tonnes supplied in 2021, informed that the NLNG Train 7 project would also deepen gas utilization in the country.

She said the Train 7 project was expected to ramp up NLNG’s production capacity by 35 percent from 22 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) to around 30 MTPA.

The acting Corporate Communications Manager noted that the project would form part of the investment of over $10 billion, including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby increasing dividends, and taxes accruing to the government.

She said that the company was also working on other projects to bring socio-economic development to its host community and the entire nation.