Nigeria licenses the first floating LNG plant to export and use domestically
Nigeria's oil regulator granted UTM Offshore Limited on Friday the first license for operating a floating LNG plant to tap flared natural gas from an ExxonMobil field in the Niger Delta.
As Africa looks to tap into its gas reserves, such plants are popping up all over the continent. Government estimates indicate that Nigeria has over 209 trillion cubic foot of gas reserves but loses more than $1 billion annually due to gas flaring.
UTM's floating vessel, which has a capacity of 2.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), will be used to tap the flared gas at ExxonMobil Oil Mining Lease 104 in Akwa Ibom in southern Nigeria.
Farouk Ahmed of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority said that the plant had increased its capacity from 1.2 MTPA up to 2.8 MTPA because of growing LNG demand.
UTM Offshore CEO Julius Rone stated that the engineering work would be completed by 2028 and production would begin in the first quarter 2029.
This is only the engineering phase. There are many other variables. It is impossible to tell you how much it will cost. But it will be a multi-billion dollar project.
He noted that the facility will export LNG and deliver 500,000 tons of liquefied gas to the domestic market.
Afreximbank committed $3 billion to the second phase. It provided $2.1 billion for the first phase. (Reporting and writing by Camillus Eboh, Editing by Richard Chang; Writing by Isaac Anyaogu)
(source: Reuters)
