If feelers from the gas sector is any thing to go bye then the good old days are here for Nigeria.
Report has it that the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) is expected to take delivery of four LNG carrier ships before year-end and another two next year.
This disclosure was made by its chief executive who said the move is aimed at positioning the state-backed gas exporter to expand its share of the growing market.
NLNG signed agreements with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2013 to acquire six LNG carrier ships, costing more than $1.2 billion, to boost its fleet of 23.
The project according to the Managing Director, Babs Omotowa, is being funded by South Korea Export and Import Bank and other lenders.
Omotowa said the global market for LNG – natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid form, which shrinks the volume and makes it easier to store and ship – was forecast to grow to 430 million tonnes per year by 2030 from 230 million now.
Nigeria, with the world’s fourth-biggest LNG plant, wants to capture some of that by expanding its market share to more than 10 percent – a spot it held in 2008 – from seven per cent now, Omotowa said, without giving a time frame.
“With our growth projects train 7 and train 8, we hope to expand our capacity by 40 percent and take us back to over 10 percent,” he said in an interview in Lagos, referring to NLNG’S gas liquefaction production lines.
