When he was first referred to as gas king, many naysayers never believed him. But today, Dr. Julius Rone has proven to the doubting Thomases he indeed has a solid grasp and mastery of the oil and gas sector.
He is constantly scoring many firsts in the industry, giving the nation hope of an economic boost through its abundance of gas.
Recently, Rone scored another first when he concluded plans to set up the first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas, FLNG facility in Nigeria and the very first developed by an indigenous private African company.
The FLNG will, among other things, boost production and crash the cost of gas for domestic, auto and industrial use in the country.
The facility also aims to leapfrog the national economy by producing an annual 1.5 million tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for export, as well as 300,000 LPG metric tonnes for domestic markets, all aimed at lowering and stabilising prices of gas, while creating thousands of jobs and investment opportunities in Nigeria.
The Delta State-born mogul paid a visit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during which he had a crucial economy and investment-driven meeting with the President.
As gathered, his reason for the visit was to brief the President on the import of the facility. It was also gathered that the initiative would serve as a legacy project under the Tinubu administration’s quest to revitalise the nation’s economy, rejuvenate the productive sector and create jobs and investment opportunities while saving millions of Nigerians from the hazards of environmental pollution.
According to Rone, Afreximbank is facilitating the financing of the project with financial closure envisaged for Q4 2023. UTM FLNG Limited, a subsidiary of UTM Offshore Ltd, is a Special Purpose Vehicle created to actualise the project.
