Kunle Kalejaye
28 October 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Operational activities of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG is currently under threat by multiple taxes from multiple government regulatory agencies and repeated militant attacks on it pipeline facilities.
This was made know by the company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria LNG Limited, Mr. Tony Attah during the visit of Senate Committee on Gas to Bonny recently.
Mr. Attah said Nigeria LNG has recorded 19 cases of pipeline disruptions by the militant in 2016.
He also alluded to the problem of double taxation, which is capable of impacting the company’s competitiveness and compromising its ability to maintain its position as the world’s 4th global largest gas supplier.
According to him, the situation if not checked is capable of leading to a number of unfavourable consequences such as loss of revenue for the Federal Government, potential loss of jobs and loss of status as an inspirational business model and number one indigenous company in the country.
Commenting on Liquefied Petroleum Gas LPG supply to the domestic market, the NLNG MD said the structure is threatened, as the system encourages tax-free importation of LPG while NLNG supply is subjected to Value Added Tax (VAT), thereby frustrating the company’s effort to support and grow the local LPG market for which it already sets aside 250,000 metric tonnes annually.
Reacting to the issues one after another, the visiting Senators repeatedly recognised and expressed support for Nigeria LNG operations and successes so far. They assured that they would do all in their power to support the good work at NLNG by taking a serious look at the issues raised, to enable the company and the nation remain successful.
The Committee agreed that from what they saw, there is strong evidence that the company is well run. They also observed with satisfaction that the plant from which this success story has been created is operated byNigerians.
They, however, expressed the need for the company to help the nation achieve zero gas flaring while also indicating their concern about how to sustain the aging plant, expedite the train 7 project and maintain the successful NLNG model.