Ejiofor Alike with agency reports
The Nigeria LNG Limited has begun talks with potential buyers of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) that will replace some of the existing customers whose current contracts will expire by 2022.
The company is seeking buyers on new contracts for gas supplies from Trains 1, 2 and 3, which collectively produce nine million tonnes of LNG a year.
The Bonny Island plant of NLNG has six trains – 1, 2,3,4,5 and 6 – producing a total of 22 million tonnes per year.
Reuters quoted a senior official of the company as saying late on Wednesday at the Gastech trade conference in Chiba outside Tokyo, Japan that initial responses from buyers have been positive.
“Trains 1-3 are coming back to the market as they are out of contract by 2022. We started to remarket today,” he told Reuters at the conference.
“There are some who are guaranteed to buy,” the official said, though he provided no further details.
Trains are units that freeze natural gas into liquid form for export on ships.
Trains 1 and 2, which are referred to as its base projects were financed by its shareholders with $3.6 billion, while Train 3 referred to as expansion project was financed with $1.8 billion.
THISDAY had reported that the company was on the verge of completing its commercial strategies for re-marketing LNG volumes for its three trains whose sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) would soon expire.
The company had also initiated activities for the marketing of LNG volumes that would come from its proposed Train-7 project, which is currently awaiting a final investment decision (FID).
Nigeria LNG manages 16 long-term LNG SPAs, executed with 10 buyers on a Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) basis.
Some of the current buyers of LNG from the Nigerian firm include: Enel of Italy, Gas Natural Fenosa of Spain, BOTAS of Turkey, Engie of France, GALP Gas Natural, Endesa, ENI, Iberdrla, Shell International Trading Middle East Ltd, and Total Gas and Power Ltd.
Buyers of volumes in the three trains with expiring SPAs include: Enel, Gas Natural Fenosa, GALP Gas Natural, Engie Global LNG, and Botas.
Through master sale agreements (MSAs) with several companies, LNG volumes have been delivered to receiving facilities in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, India, Brazil, Kuwait, and Argentina, thus retaining its position as a major player in the global LNG industry.
The company has a six-train complex of 22 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) LNG nameplate production capacity, and 5mtpa Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) production capacity, and has delivered over 3,000 cargoes of LNG to customers.
