Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) and Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on Friday signed off the approved plan for Nigeria Content (NC) for NLNG’s Train 7 project which will ensure the delivery of value and benefits to the economy.
Managing director and chief executive officer of NLNG, Tony Attah, and the executive secretary of NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, signed the NC plan in Abuja at an event witnessed by representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell Gas B.V, Total Gaz Electricite Holdings, France and ENI International N.A. N. V. S.àr. l, shareholders of NLNG.
In his remarks to commemorate the milestone in Abuja, Mr Attah said: “The NC Plan being signed today has made clear and robust provisions to deepen Nigerian Content in line with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, significantly higher than what was achieved in the previous NLNG projects.
“In order to adapt this spirit of continuous improvement, NCDMB and NLNG are fully aligned to collaborate during the operationalisation of the plan. This synergy will ensure that value added opportunities for Nigeria are indeed maximised and the Train 7 project is delivered to meet international standards of quality and safety.”
He added that NLNG was underpinned by its vision of being ‘a global LNG company helping to build a better Nigeria’, and that playing globally is about the business itself, and helping to build a better Nigeria is consistent with NLNG’s partnership with NCDMB.
He noted that the partnership has been very effective through a business to business service level agreement (SLA) with NCDMB signed in June 2017, the first of its kind in the industry.
Attach also said the economic impact of increased LNG production will be significant, stating that since the start of its operations 20 years ago, NLNG has generated more than $100 billion in revenue and has paid over $16 billion in dividend to the federal government through NNPC with 49 per cent shareholding in the company. NLNG has paid over $13 billion to the federal government for feedgas purchases and $6.5 billion in taxes. He remarked the numbers will be greater with the envisaged 35% increase in NLNG’s production, which he said will boost the country’s GDP significantly.
Speaking further on the benefits of the project to the Nigerian economy, Attah stated the project would create over 10, 000 jobs at construction stage and would stimulate capacity building of local industries along LNG value chain.
Mr Wabote, in his remarks, said the expected job explosion from Train 7 is banked on the Nigerian Content Plan, which provides for 100 percent engineering of all non-cryogenic areas in-country.
He added that the total in-country engineering man hours is set at 55 percent, which exceeds the minimum level stipulated in the NOGICD Act.
Wabote also said the increased number of NLNG Trains would also provide huge business opportunities for local businesses to build capabilities in the maintenance of LNG plants, especially in the area of cryogenics.
The project, according to him, would also catalyse other upstream gas supply projects required to keep the LNG train busy and make stranded gas fields in the shallow and deep offshore in the area economical.
Train 7 project is expected to ramp up NLNG’s production capacity by 35% from 22 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 30 mtpa.
