Page 8 - AfrOil Week 24 2021

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

The signing of the SPAs will facilitate efforts to envisions the construction of a seventh produc-
establish local delivery infrastructure, he said. tion train that can turn out 4.2mn tpy, as well as
In the meantime, Attah said, NLNG is also the debottlenecking of existing trains, which will
expanding its own production of LPG for sale add another 3.4mn tpy of capacity.
on the Nigerian market. The consortium turned Equity in the consortium is divided between
out 370,000 tonnes of LPG last year and hopes state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum
to raise the figure to 450,000 tonnes in 2022, he Corp. (NNPC), with 49%; Royal Dutch Shell
stated. (UK/Netherlands), with 25.6%; TotalEnergies
He also praised the Nigerian government’s (France), with 15%, and Eni (Italy), with 10.4%.
policy of promoting LPG as an alternative to The partners began production in 1999. ™
solid fuels such as wood, charcoal or dung. LPG
is a clean and affordable fuel for cooking and
home heating, he asserted.
The NLNG managing director also urged
Nigeria to make more use of its natural and
associated gas reserves, saying that the coun-
try did not need to use crude oil or petroleum
products to power its economy. Nigeria has 203
trillion feet (5.75 trillion cubic metres) of gas in
proven reserves, as well as 600 tcf (16.99 tcm) in
potential reserves, he noted. This is enough to
support a wide range of gas-to-power and indus-
trialisation programmes that have the potential
to transform the economy, while also reining in
carbon emissions, he said.
NLNG is the operator of a gas liquefaction
plant on Bonny Island. The facility has six pro-
duction trains capable of turning out a total of
22.5mn tpy, and its capacity is set to rise to 30mn
tpy as a result of the Train 7 project. This scheme NLNG’s local customers will buy 1.1mn tpy of LNG (Image: NCDMB)

Nigeria expects a reprieve on fuel imports

NIGERIA THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria the world.” The facility will have a capacity of
(CBN), Godwin Emefiele, this week said that 3mn tpy in its first phase and is the largest pro-
increased refining activity and urea output ject in the global fertiliser sector. Phase 1 came
would reduce the country’s refined product in at a total cost of $2.5bn and is located near the
import bill by up to 35% per year. 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) oil refinery Dan-
Speaking to the press gathered in Abuja, he gote is building at a cost of nearly $20bn.
said that the country’s production capabilities The Dangote Fertiliser complex consists of
in both areas would ramp up significantly by two 2,200 tonne per day (tpd) ammonia plants
the first quarter of 2022, more than necessary to using Halder Topsoe technology, two 4,000 tpd
cater to domestic demand and offering oppor- melt urea plants using Snamprogetti technology
tunity for export. and two 4,000 tpd urea granulation plants using
Emefiele noted that the Dangote Refinery Uhde Technology.
and Petrochemical complex at the Lekki Free
Trade Zone outside Lagos and two other facili- Refining
ties would have a joint capacity of 6.5mn tonnes Meanwhile, Emefiele said that when the Dan-
per year (tpy) of urea. gote refinery comes into operation early next
He added that Nigeria needs “about 1.5mn to year, Nigeria will have “reduced our importation
2mn tonnes to satisfy our own domestic needs. by about at least close to 35%”.
That means we have the potential to export the “Luckily Nigeria is endowed. Nigeria has
excess and earn foreign currency from these crude oil. Nigeria has gas and that is why, leaning
items”. However, the governor also quoted the on the words of our president, we have chosen to
urea demand figure at 1.0-1.5mn tpy. encourage companies to look inwards by help-
Speaking at a ceremony to launch produc- ing to provide funds for them to bring in equip-
tion at the Dangote urea unit, he said “we have ment that they need,” he said.
potential to export at least 3-4mn [tpy] of urea Emefiele went on to say that companies
to different parts of the world. would “source their raw materials almost 100%
With this latest development, Nigeria has locally,” adding: “That is one of the things we are
become one of the major producers of urea in doing to strengthen our economy.” ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 16•June•2021