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NLNG comments on plan to maximise local content in Train 7 project
NIGERIA
THE Nigeria LNG (NLNG) consortium is tout- ing its plan to maximise the use of local content in the construction of a new production train.
Speaking at an industry conference in Abuja on February 10, NLNG’s managing director and CEO Tony Attah said that Nigeria’s government had already approved its plans for the Train 7 project. “Riding on the back of a robust Nigerian content plan endorsed by the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB), 55% of the engineering activities for Train 7 will be carried out in-country, and 55% of all pro- curement for execution of the project will be undertaken by Nigerian vendors,” he said.
Fully 100% of all installation and construc- tion work will be carried out in Nigeria, he noted. According to Attah, this undertaking will bolster the country’s economy in many ways. The most obvious benefits will include “the cre- ation of jobs for our teeming youths, netting up to 12,000 direct jobs [during] the construction phase, as well as the associated skills acquisition through a deliberate effort at technology trans-
fer,” he stated.
“[The] entire project will attract huge
[amounts of ] foreign direct investment [FDI] to the Nigerian economy,” he added. “Other benefits include the emergence of upstream and other associated projects that will bolster our economy.”
“The Train 7 initiative will give Nigeria a
chance to show the world the full extent of its capabilities,” Attah commented. “For a Nigerian company managed by [a] 100% Nigerian man- agement team and [a] 95% indigenous work- force, it is a daunting test to [gain a reputation] as the first worldwide in plant reliability and the single most expansive LNG plant on the conti- nent,” he said. “We can sustain this and do much more.”
NLNG’s largest shareholder is state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC). Equity in the consortium is divided between NNPC (49%), Royal Dutch Shell (25.6%), France’s Total (15%) and Italy’s Eni (10.4%).
The consortium has been turning out LNG since 1999 and already has six production trains in place at its gas liquefaction plant on Bonny Island. Together, these trains have a capacity of 22.5mn tonnes per year. The addition of Train 7 will push the total up by 7.2mn tpy to 30mn tpy, with the new production facility adding 4.2mn tpy and the debottlenecking of existing trains contributing 3.4mn tpy.
Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group managing direc- tor, said late last year that NLNG would con- tinue to expand after the completion of Train 7. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed the group to build another five pro- duction trains, bringing the total number up to 12, he explained.
Week 06 13•February•2020 w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m P7
