Nigerian player’s LNG flows to two Asian countries, enlarging global reach

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has started shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan and China on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis.

The Nigerian firm credits the collaboration of two of its downstream subsidiaries – NNPC LNG and NNPC Shipping – for this milestone. The pair delivered its first DES shipment from the LNG carrier Grazyna Gesicka at Futtsu, Japan, on June 27, 2024, followed by another cargo delivered to China.

The 174,000 cubic meter (cbm) Grażyna Gęsicka was built at South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyards in South Korea on behalf of Orlen Group. The vessel arrived in Poland last July.

NNPC’s Executive President, Downstream, Dapo Segun, said: “The DES system, apart from being more financially rewarding, allows NNPC Ltd inroads into the downstream segment of the LNG sector and positions it to capture more market shares while building in-house capacity and ensuring that global customers are familiar with the NNPC Ltd brand.”

The NNPC believes the cooperation between NNPC LNG and NNPC Shipping has strengthened the latter’s position in the natural gas sector. The duo is scheduled to deliver at least two more LNG cargoes to the Asian market on a DES basis by November, with “many more orders” expected before the year’s end.

“NNPC Shipping intends to build a shipping portfolio (including owned vessels) so that we can provide our sister company and other clients all the shipping flexibilities they need,” noted Panos Gliatis, Managing Director of NNPC Shipping. 

Nigeria has recently seen some turmoil with oil and gas majors leaving the country’s onshore operations to pursue LNG and other offshore opportunities. Shell made the first move by divesting its stake in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) in January, with TotalEnergies doing the same seven months later.

Furthermore, Eni joined the ranks of firms abandoning their Nigerian onshore assets in late July, when it got the green light to sell Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd (NAOC), its wholly-owned subsidiary focused on onshore oil and gas exploration and production.