03 February 2012, Sweetcrude, ABUJA – Nigeria says a final agreeement to build the $8 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Brass, Bayelsa State, will be signed next quarter.
Austen Oniwon, group managing director of state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), disclosed this in Abuja.
Gas supply agreements are being resolved and a tender process is going on, Oniwon said, adding: “Before the third quarter, we will take the final investment decision on Brass LNG.”
NNPC has a 30 percent stake in Brass LNG planned for the country’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, while Total SA, Eni SpA and ConocoPhillips each hold 17 percent. LNG Japan and Itochu Corporation hold 4 percent and 3 percent respectively, and a joint venture between Sahara Group and Sempra Energy has 2 percent.
Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer and the fifth-biggest source of US oil imports. The West African nation, holder of Africa’s largest gas reserves of more than 187 trillion cubic feet, flares most of the fuel it produces along with oil because it lacks the infrastructure to process it.
OK LNG, in which Chevron Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BG Group Plc are working with NNPC, “hasn’t made much progress,” Oniwon said.
