The fleet of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) is about to be joined by four LNG carriers before year-end and another two next year, the company’s CEO Babs Omotowa is quoted by Reuters as saying.
The six tankers were ordered in 2013 from Korean shipbuilders Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries within a USD 1.6 billion deal.
SHI has been entrusted with construction of four ships, whereas HHI will build the remaining two.
NLNG has a total of 23 ships on long-term charter for its six-train operation which load at NLNG Terminal in Bonny, Nigeria.
The fleet expansion plan was driven by the expected growth of the global LNG market which is predicted to reach 430 million tonnes per year, almost doubling its current capacity.
At the moment the NLNG plant, in Finima on Bonny island, in the oil and gas-rich southern Rivers state, has six operational production units. Plans are being implemented for building train 7 and train 8, boosting the plant’s capacity by 40 percent, Omotowa said in an interview in Lagos, adding that this would take the company back to over 10 percent.
Nigeria currently exports 22 million metric tons of LNG, making it the world’s fourth largest LNG exporter.
NLNG is owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC (49%), Shell Gas BV, SGBV, (25.6%), Total LNG Nigeria Limited (15%), and Eni International (10.4%).
World Maritime News Staff