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Its output will also include 400,000 tpy of naph- since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
tha, 100,000 tpy of LPG, 300,000 tpy of coke and began.
66,000 tpy of sulphur. Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla
Years of declining production and rising recently said the country could become self-suf-
consumption have led to Egypt becoming a net ficient in petroleum products as early as 2023.
importer of fuel. It is investing in a raft of new The government wants to build new processing
downstream projects to try to reverse this trend. facilities and modernise existing ones, while also
But some have been put on hold or cancelled rationalising consumption. ™

NNPC head: NLNG shareholders

now discussing Train 8 project

NIGERIA SHAREHOLDERS in the Nigeria LNG (NLNG) the volume of production that is important. For
consortium have begun discussions on the con- instance, Train 7 is adding almost close to what
struction of another production train at their the current trains are doing,” he said.
natural gas liquefaction plant on Bonny Island. He was referring to the fact that the Train
Mele Kyari, the group managing director of 7 scheme envisions the construction of a new
Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), production unit that will add 4.2mn tonnes per
made an announcement to this effect earlier this year (tpy) of new capacity to NLNG, as well as
week, during a briefing in Abuja. He told report- the debottlenecking of existing trains, which will
ers that NLNG had begun talks at the behest of contribute another 3.4mn tpy. (The consortium
President Muhammadu Buhari. The president reached the FID stage on the project, which
noted that the group had acted quickly to make will boost the Bonny Island plant’s production
a final investment decision (FID) on the Train 7 capacity from 22.5mn tpy to 30mn tpy, earlier
project and then urged it to take similar meas- this year.)
ures to speed up work on the next production Kyari did not reveal any details of the discus-
train. sions on Train 8, but he did say that NLNG and
“As we have done FID on Train 7, we have its shareholders were committed to supporting
already started speaking to our partners to go the Nigerian government’s efforts to promote
to Train 8. And indeed, [Buhari’s] question was the use of gas and to expand LNG production.
that he was surprised that we are still on Train Abuja views LNG initiatives as sources of “more
7,” Kyari was quoted as saying by This Day. “He jobs, more employment, more expansion of the
thought we should be talking about Train 8, and economy,” he remarked. “We agree with this and
I agree with him absolutely, because there was we are also chasing that appropriately.”
enormous room for us to improve.” NLNG was formed more than 20 years ago
The Nigerian government has said before and has been producing LNG since 1999. Equity
that NLNG could eventually have as many as 12 in the consortium is split between state-owned
trains in operation, but the NNPC chief did not NNPC, with 49%; Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Neth-
reveal whether that target was still in place. “[It’s erlands), with 25.6%; Total (France), with 15%,
not the number of trains that is significant. It’s and Eni (Italy), with 10.4%. ™

NLNG’s six existing trains can produce 22.5 tpy of LNG (Photo: NLNG)

Week 49 09•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P17