Shareholders of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), the only LNG production plant in the West African country, have commenced negotiations aiming at the construction of an eighth natural gas liquefaction train within the NLNG.
This is according to Mallam Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which embodying the Federal government of Nigeria owns the NLNG alongside Shell Gas B.V., Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France, and Eni International N.A. N.V. S.àr.l.
The discussions come barely 12 months after the company’s shareholders signed the Final Investment Decision (FID) for Train 7, to expand the complex to 30 mtpa from the current 22 mtpa, with the addition of the seventh train with 8mtpa capacity.
The aim of the cooperation
Kyari explained that the current focus of the government, the corporation, and its partners were to establish new gas hubs that would lead to the creation of other LNG projects.
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“The PIB itself will ultimately come to pass where the emphasis on gas, monetizing gas, and creating the right fiscal environment for gas development, will lead to some more LNG projects.
“However it’s not the number of trains that is significant, but the volume of production. For instance, 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,” explained the NNPC Group Managing Director.
He added that having more LNG facilities would as well lead to “more jobs, more employment opportunities, and more expansion of the economy of Nigeria and we are also chasing that appropriately.” 1
