The much-publicised Final Investment Decision (FID) for Train 7 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited has failed to meet the deadline set for December 19.
The planned signing of the FID on Thursday suffered delay as stakeholders could not conclude the meeting preceding the signing.
Sources close to the promoters of the project said it would now happen today, Friday.
The sources said the meeting scheduled to precede the signing of the FID was originally planned to end at about 2pm local time on Thursday, but the meeting was still on as at 6pm yesterday and was envisaged to continue until midday today.
Whatever announcement that would be made by the promoters would be after the meeting today, the sources said.
The project, which is expected to increase Nigeria’s LNG production by 35 percent to 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), has been delayed for several years. A previous deadline for a Train 7 FID in the fourth quarter of 2018 was not met.
Nigeria lost more than $5 billion to Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas (OKLNG), Brass Liquefied Natural Gas (BLNG) and Train 7 because of bureaucratic bottlenecks and delays in taking final investment decision, according to stakeholders.
Louis Brown Ogbeifun, former president of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said the Federal Government conceptualised the projects in 2004 and gave them five years’ completion date but 15 years after, the projects were not yet completed.
The Train-7 project, when it finally takes off, is expected to greatly impact the national economy as it would boost the Federal Government’s revenue by $9bn and generate about 10,000 direct jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs to ease the youth unemployment challenge in the country.
The project would deliver 100 percent engineering of all non-cryogenic areas in-country and also push up Nigeria’s profile as a major force to reckon with globally in terms of gas production.
Earlier in the year, NLNG announced that the joint venture company, SCD Group, comprising the Italian company, Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda Corporation and South Korea’s Daewoo, would undertake the engineering, procurement, and construction for the $10 billion Train-7 project.
NLNG is a joint venture company owned by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (49 percent), Shell (25.6 percent), Total (15 percent) and Eni (10.4 percent).
The Train-7 project is located at the Bonny Island LNG facility, in the Niger Delta. Once complete, it will include a new liquefaction unit, an 84,200m3 storage tank, a 36,000m3 condensate tank and three gas turbine generators.
Analysts say at a time when African nations with no history of liquefied natural gas exports are managing to attract investment to the sector, Nigeria, the world’s fourth-largest producer, is still struggling to expand its only facility, the long-established Nigeria LNG.
Just last week, some of the stakeholders signed gas supply agreement with the gas company.
Tony Attah, managing director of NLNG, described the event as a great moment for Nigeria as the gas supply would help consolidate Nigeria’s position in the global NLNG market.
He, however, requested that more needed to be done to get the country to “fly on the wing of gas” in the face of the changing global energy dynamics, adding that NLNG was ready to build more trains if the gas producing companies can supply the gas required.
Simbi Wabote, executive secretary, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), said the benefits of the Train 7 project would extend to site civil works on roads, piling, and jetties, 100 percent local procurement of all low and high voltage cables, non-cryogenic valves, protective paints and coatings, sacrificial anodes and many others from local manufacturing plants.
The target, according to the NCDMB boss, is to assemble over 70 percent of all non-cryogenic pumps and control valves in-country, while other spin-off opportunities include logistics, equipment leasing, insurance, hotels, office supplies, aviation, haulage and many more.
Wabote urged the SCD consortium to fully implement the agreed Nigerian content levels as contained in the approved Nigerian Content Plan for Train-7 project, covering engineering, fabrication, civil works, local procurement, project services, logistics, equipment leasing, insurance, hotels, office supplies, aviation, haulage, human capacity development and jobs.
Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, had urged stakeholders connected with the NLNG Train-7 project to fast-track actions related to it.
He said the project was one of his focus areas to put an end to the drought of FIDs in the oil and gas industry in the last few years.
OLUSOLA BELLO & DIPO OLADEHINDE
