Page 9 - DMEA Week 14 2022
P. 9
DMEA SUPPLY & PROCESSING DMEA
NLNG urged to let other
producers supply gas to its plant
AFRICA NIGERIA’S Minister of State for Petroleum can afford to supply at subsidised rates because
Resources, Timipre Sylva, has asked sharehold- they are partners in the NLNG project, not the
ers in Nigeria LNG (NLNG) to let other natural third parties.”
gas producers access their pipeline networks so Sylva went on to say that it was in the inter-
that additional feedstock can be delivered to the ests of both Nigeria and Italy to resolve the dis-
consortium’s gas liquefaction plant on Bonny pute. Increasing NLNG’s capacity utilisation will
Island. directly benefit the European Union by allowing
Speaking during a meeting with Stefano De the consortium to boost shipments of LNG to
Leo, the new Italian ambassador to Abuja, on Europe, which is seeking new sources of fuel, he
April 4, Sylva noted that the NLNG plant was explained.
currently operating at only around 70% of its De Leo expressed similar sentiments, say-
installed capacity because it was not receiving ing: “At the moment, the EU wants to diversify
enough gas. its energy sources, especially gas, and Nigeria is
If the NLNG group’s shareholders were to very strategic to us. We have been long-stand-
open up their pipelines to other producers, he ing friends and partners – and one of the most
said, the facility would have enough feedstock to important [ones], for that matter. So we need to
meet all of its obligations on the domestic and continue to dialogue on how things can be done
export markets. properly. In Africa, no country is more strategic
“The issue we have with the existing NLNG than Nigeria because of its population, economy
trains is that of insufficient gas supply. The part- and political position. So we are happy to work
ners are running out of gas, and they are refusing with you.”
third [parties the opportunity] to supply gas to Eni, an Italian company that is also active in
the trains ... This is a very critical issue that I want Nigeria’s upstream sector, holds a 10.4% stake in
to discuss with the respective partners to see NLNG. The remaining equity in the consortium
how we can resolve this problem so that we can is split between Nigerian National Petroleum Co.
increase the production capacity of the NLNG Ltd (NNPC Ltd), the operator, with 49%; Shell
[plant],” De Leo said, according to a report from (UK), with 25.6%; and TotalEnergies (France),
Blueprint. with 15%.
The problem stems partly from disagree- The partners have been operating a gas liq-
ments over the payment structure for gas deliv- uefaction plant on Bonny Island since 1999. The
eries to NLNG, Sylva noted. facility now has six production trains capable of
“The partners are insisting that they can only turning out a total of 22.5 mn tpy. Its installed
allow third [parties to] supply gas to the plant capacity is set to rise to 30mn tpy as a result of the
only if they agree to supply at subsidised rates,” Train 7 project, which envisions the construction
he commented. “These people, of course, want of a seventh production train that can turn out
to make money and they cannot supply at sub- 4.2mn tpy, as well as the debottlenecking of exist-
sidised rates, and that’s why the NLNG trains ing trains, which will add another 3.4mn tpy of
cannot produce at [full] capacity. The partners capacity.
Week 14 07•April•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
