NNPC challenges NLNG shareholders on production capacity

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has challenged shareholders of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to work towards expanding the production capacity of the company beyond Train 7.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari, gave the charge in a statement signed by the Acting Spokesman for the Corporation, Mr Samson Makoji in Abuja, on Friday

Kyari spoke during the signing ceremony of a 2.5 billion dollar pre-payment agreement between NNPC and NLNG for Upstream gas development projects to supply gas to NLNG Trains 1 – 6.

He said the agreement would help to resolve the issues around gas supply to Trains 1 – 6, adding that there was need to fast-track action on the process of bringing more trains on stream.

He noted that though NLNG had been a huge success as a company, it must go beyond its current achievements and initiate other viable projects capable of generating better return on investment.

“Actually, our thinking should be on what else we can do or what other projects we can work on as quickly as possible to take advantage of the enormous potential in-country.

“ There is also the need for us to take advantage of what is happening in the global market and do things very differently.

“There are opportunities there and our company must move into those locations and we must move fast,” he added.

The GMD said the pre-payment gas supply agreement was a milestone which aligned with the Federal Government’s aspirations of monetising the nation’s enormous gas resources.

He added it would also help in protecting the Federation’s investment in the NLNG, ensuring full capacity utilization (22mtpa LNG and 5mtpa NGLs) of Trains 1-6 plants, generating employment, and providing new vistas of growth opportunities in the nation’s LNG sector.

Earlier in his address, the Managing Director of NLNG, Mr Tony Attah, noted that the signing of the gas supply pre-payment agreement was a significant step towards ensuring the company’s business sustainability and competitiveness.

He called for support to ensure that the Final Investment Decision on the Train 7 Project would be taken in 2019 without failure.

He added that the project was no longer an ambitious one in the light of developments in the global LNG market.

The signing of the gas supply pre-payment agreement was witnessed by the Country Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor, and representatives of Total, Eni/NAOC, among others.