Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) on Friday in Abuja signed the first Basic 20-year term of Gas Supply Agreements (GSAs) for NLNG Train 7 with Joint Ventures (JVs) for the supply of feedgas to Train 7, closing out another condition necessary for taking of the Final Investment Decision (FID).

The Company also signed the second Basic 10-year term of GSAs for its Trains1, 2 and 3. The JVs are Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Total Exploration & Production Nigeria (TEPNG) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC).

The GSAs bring NLNG closer to taking FID, which signals the commencement of the project, which is expected to increase the company production by 35% and improve competitiveness in the global market upon completion.

The milestone is coming after the issuance of a Letter of Intent for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract to SCD JV Consortium in September 2019 as well as the signing of the Nigeria Content (NC) plan with Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in March 2019.

SCD JV Consortium is made up of Saipem of Italy, Japan’s Chiyoda and Daewoo of South Korea.

The Train 7 Project will ramp up NLNG’s production capacity from 22 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) to around 30 MTPA. The Project will form part of the investment of over US$10 billion including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) profile of Nigeria. The Project is anticipated to create over 10,000 new jobs during its construction phase, and on completion, help to further mop more gas that would have been flared, and diversify the revenue portfolio of the Federal Government and thus increase its tax base.

The company said the project was in line with its corporate vision of ”Helping to build a better Nigeria”. The construction period after FID will last approximately four to five years.

NLNG is owned by four Shareholders, namely, the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (49%), Shell Gas B.V. (25.6%), Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France (15%), and Eni International N.A. N. V. S.àr. l (10.4%).

The actualisation of the Train 7 Project comes as NLNG celebrates 30 years of its incorporation and 20 years since exporting its first LNG cargo in 1999.

•PHOTO: L-R; Executive Director - Oil & Gas Commercial, Total E&P Nigeria Ltd, Patrick Olinma; Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria and MD, SPDC, Mr. Osagie Okunbor; NLNG MD, Tony Attah; GMD, NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari; and Representative of the Managing Director of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Mr. Masimilianao Bertona at the signing of Gas Supply Agreements (GSAs) for NLNG’s Train 7, and Trains 1 to 3 in Abuja today.

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