Page 8 - GLNG Week 01

GLNG AFRICA GLNG
Nigeria LNG makes FID on Train 7
INVESTMENT
THE Nigeria LNG (NLNG) consortium revealed in late December that it had made a final invest- ment decision (FID) on the construction of a seventh production train at its natural gas lique- faction plant on Bonny Island.
The group, which includes Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and three interna- tional majors, said in a statement that it had signed an agreement on the expansion project on December 27. Italy’s Eni, one of NLNG’s shareholders, issued a press release confirming the FID on the same day.
The expansion deal is more than a year behind schedule. The consortium has delayed the FID several times, and it failed to meet its previous deadline, which fell in the fourth quarter of 2018.
In their statements, NLNG and Eni said the construction of the new production train would push the consortium’s output capacity above 30mn tonnes per year, up by 35% on the current level of 22.5mn tpy. Train 7 itself will be able to turn out 4.2mn tpy, Eni noted, and the debottle- necking of existing trains will add another 3.4mn tpy.
The consortium has already secured feed- stock for the new production train. Earlier in December, it signed 20-year gas supply agree- ments with Eni, Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Nether- lands) and Oando (Nigeria).
NLNG is not the only party set to gain from the FID. Reuters pointed out on December 27 that the project would help Nigeria reverse a decline in LNG output. The West African state was the world’s fifth largest LNG producer in 2018, down from fourth place in 2017, it explained.
Nigeria hopes to make further gains in the years ahead. Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group manag- ing director, said on December 27 that NLNG was set to expand further. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed the group to build another five production trains, bringing the total number up to 12, he said.
Doing so will create 10,000 new jobs in Nige- ria and generate an additional $20bn in net budget revenues, Kyari said. Moreover, it will highlight the country’s strong interest in the development of the gas industry, he added.
“It also signifies that there is renewed con- fidence [among] international investors, par- ticularly our partners which we have known for a long time, to still agree to put money back into this country,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Equity in NLNG is divided between NNPC (49%), Shell (25.6%), France’s Total (15%) and Eni (10.4%). The consortium has been turning out LNG since 1999.™
AMERICAS
Energía del Pacífico moving ahead with LNG project in El Salvador
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
US-BASED Invenergy has teamed up with several local investors – Grupa Calleja, Quan- tum Energy and VC Energy de Centroamer- ica – to form Energía del Pacífico (EDP), a venture that will carry out a gas-to-power project in El Salvador. The partners are work- ing to establish the infrastructure facilities needed to allow EDP to import and regasify LNG so that it can serve as fuel for a thermal power plant (TPP).
According to EDP, the project is set to make significant progress this year. Late last month, the venture said it had wrapped up financing arrangements for the project, which will entail the deployment of a floating storage and re-gas- ification unit (FSRU), the construction of a 378- MW gas-fired TPP in the port of Acajutla, the installation of a 2-km subsea pipeline connecting the FSRU to onshore units and the building of a 44-km, 230-kV transmission line tying the TPP into the Central American Electrical Intercon- nection System.
The scheme is likely to cost about $1bn over- all. It will cover about 30% of El Salvador’s energy demand and reduce the country’s dependence on dirtier fuels such as diesel and residual fuel oil, thereby benefiting the environment. EDP hopes to launch the new system before the end of 2021.
EDP has already signed various agreements with different contractors. It has arranged to acquire LNG from Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Neth- erlands) and has tasked Boskalis (Netherlands) with engineering and building the subsea link between the FSRU and the TPP.
Meanwhile, SAAM Towage (Chile) will use three tugboats to provide tug support services. BW LNG (Norway) will be operating the FSRU. Wartsila (Finland) will supply gas-fired internal combustion engines and steam turbine gen- erators to fuel the power station. Elecnor has agreed to engineer and build the 44-km link to the Central American grid, along with all nec- essary substations.™
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 01 09•January•2020