Nigeria may become 3rd world exporter of gas depending on Train-7 decision by Dec
Going by the look of things, Nigeria may take third spot as world gas exporter from January 2019 depending on the final investment decision on the Train-7 project by December after Qatar and Australia.
The general manager of production at Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), Tayo Ogini is confident that the milestone will make the country the third largest gas exporter globally.
Speaking weekend on the facility in Bonny Island he revealed that Nigeria is presently the fourth exporter of gas in the world.
NLNG, which currently operates six gas plants, plans to invest $7 billion on the Train-7 project and expand its production capacity to 30 mtpa.
However, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachukwu who was at the plant raised fears on some issues hobbling the harnessing of Nigeria’s gas export potentials, saying the NLNG should begin to think of exporting 40 mtpa over the next 30 years, as well as tackle the issue of gas pricing as most importers of domestic gas prefer to bring in shipments than to patronise the NLNG.
According to him, there is need for more collaboration between NLNG and Brass as well as Olokola LNG projects because “We have opportunities that are stranded everywhere – Brass LNG in terms of shareholding and financing; OKLNG in terms of even taking off the ground”.
“I am saying as the grandfather of this business – they built six trains, looking at seven, hopefully potentially more. Let’s begin to look at minimal investments, through structures and designs and reconfiguration and expert advice,” the Minister noted.
He made it clear to NLNG that “You can actually hand-hold some of those trains that are beginning to lag behind so that the whole founding father concept of ‘take this all over the place’ can happen. We are going to be reaching out to them, not from an imposition point of view but from a collaborative point of view to see what we can do and learn from what they have done well.
