NNPC, UTM Offshore, Delta Sign Shareholders’ Agreement on 2.72mtpa Floating LNG

•Kyari: Nigeria will deploy gas to revolutionise power, industrial sectors

•Oborevwori assures project will help mitigate environmental pollution

•FG to unveil facility for gas leak detection device

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), UTM Offshore, an indigenous company, and the Delta state government have signed a Shareholders Agreement (SHA) on the development of the first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event in Abuja, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari, said that the company will utilise Nigeria’s abundant gas resources to revolutionise the nation’s power and industrial sectors.

“In the next two to three years, we will use gas to bring about a revolution in our country. The outcomes will be clear on the table; there will be prosperity, and value will be created.

“Not just creating gas for export but progressing on all our initiatives of bringing gas into the domestic market. Our backbone infrastructure are almost ready to ensure we achieve that.

“Once that happens, we will see the immediate impact on the power sector, gas-based industries and several other collateral value that this will create,” the GCEO stated, according to a statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the NNPC, Olufemi Soneye.

Describing the FLNG project as a task that must be done, Kyari said Nigeria remains a gas country whose abundant gas resources have been under-utilised.

According to him, the new focus is to monetise such gas resources for the benefit of the country and the world.

Kyari added that the FLNG project fits into the federal government’s gas aspirations under the “Decade of Gas” initiative and in line with President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to create a gas hub so that value can be maximised and Nigeria can achieve prosperity.

Reiterating NNPC’s commitment towards the project, Kyari said the FLNG was the first of its kind that the company was taking keen interest and holding an equity in.

“More than this, there are several Floating LNGs that we are promoting, including fixed LNG projects. We are happy to collaborate with the Delta state government. We will take practical steps to get it done. We are committed to delivering this project in time, on schedule and in the best possible cost,” the GCEO added.

Earlier in his remarks, the Group Managing Director of UTM Offshore Limited, Mr. Julius Rone described the SHA execution as another significant milestone in actualising Nigeria’s first indigenous FLNG.

He thanked the president for his dedication towards developing the nation’s gas resources, as exemplified in the recently held COP28 Conference in Dubai, UAE.

At the event , the statement noted that the president made a commitment for the complete flare-down and use of Nigeria’s gas resources as a transition fuel to achieve the global transition to cleaner energy fuels and reduce methane emission in oil and gas operations.

Rone also lauded the GCEO of NNPC for his leadership and commitment in ensuring that Nigeria’s gas resources are developed within the provisions of the Petroleum Industry act (PIA) 2021.

Also speaking, the Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori said that the state government, which has 40 per cent of Nigeria’s proven gas reserves, decided to take 8 per cent equity because of its conviction of the strategic importance of the project to the national economy.

Apart from producing over 300,000 metric tonnes of LPG which will be dedicated to the domestic market, the governor said the FLNG project will also help to mitigate the environmental hazards in the Niger Delta by reducing gas flaring.

In addition , he noted that it will create ample employment opportunities and ensure the switch from kerosene and firewood to cleaner energy, thus improving the health and general wellbeing of the people.

He assured Nigerians, particularly the people of Delta of adequate supply of cooking gas to the domestic market after completion of the FLNG.

In attendance to witness the execution of the SHA was the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas) Ekperikpe Ekpo, who said the FLNG will ensure the monetisation of Nigeria’s gas resources to drive the economy and attain energy security.

Speaking briefly on the project, the Executive Vice President, Gas, Power & New Energy, Mr. Olalekan Ogunleye, lauded the federal government for its belief in the ability of gas to drive and accelerate economic growth which has been exemplified by the initiative to create a gas economy, especially through the decade of gas initiative.

The FLNG facility is expected to produce 1.81 to 2.72 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) of gas. The project equity has NNPC, UTM Offshore and the Delta state  holding 20 per cent, 72 per cent and 8 per cent stakes respectively.

Meanwhile, the federal government through the ministry of petroleum resources will on Thursday (today) commission Amal Technology’s production facility for Gas Leak Detection Device and Printed Circuit Board, at Idu, Abuja.

The home-grown innovation was initiated by Amal Technologies Limited and supported by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) under its Research & Development innovation intervention.

The centre  has a Technology Incubation and Innovation Centre (TIIC) domiciled within the Nigerian Content Tower in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Under the NCDMB’s research and development framework, it facilitates ideas to market and provides institutional and funding support for market-driven research. It also supports the commercialisation of breakthrough innovations with high market prospects.

The device is known as Amal Aerio, and the commissioning ceremony will be performed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, supported by the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Ogbe.

Amal Aerio is a gas and smoke detection device and it adopted Internet of Things (IOT) to introduce into the market a device that prevents fire disasters by alerting homeowners users through phone calls and text messages in the event of a gas leak.