Michael James
27 February 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria LNG Limited, NLNG, Mr. Tony Attah, says Nigeria is losing competitive space in the global liquefied natural gas, LNG, trade.
Nigeria, through the NLNG, currently exports 22 million tonnes per annum, MTPA, of LNG to markets in Europe.
But, Attah warned that the country was losing grip of the market as older producers were expanding capacities while new entrants were coming into the business with additional outputs.
“Nigeria started 24 months after Qatar. Qatar now produces 77 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and is the number one LNG supplier in the world, while Nigeria is still on 22 MTPA. Australia is already flooding the market and will knock down Qatar to the third or fourth place.
“In Africa, significant gas finds in excess of 127 Tcf (trillion cubic feet) in Mozambique have created the potential for another African super player. Mozambique is expected to become the second-largest exporter of Liquefied natural gas by 2025, as the country steps up production from 10 million tonnes per annum in 2017 to an envisaged 50 MTPA,” the NLNG Managing Director disclosed at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja.
He maintained that the real opportunity for Nigeria was last year, saying the nation could have taken advantage of low oil and gas prices to grow the LNG business.
“The real investment opportunity was last year when prices were low; but is not too late. That is why we need to take the decision on Train 7 now so we can stay within the Top 5 space. The future is gas and NLNG is ready to play. It is time for gas,” he stated/
Attah added that for Nigeria to remain competitive in the global oil and gas industry, upstream investment needed to be increased, stating that “it’s time to prepare for the likely demand outlook that’s positive, and has out-performed projections in the last 3 years. Let’s get back to E & P (exploration and production) activities.”
Other strategies recommended by Attah for Nigeria to remain competitive include stable regulatory framework and ease of doing business as well as strategic implementation of cost management by developing projects that are competitive under current pricing, implementing structural cost-saving measures, such as standardised, modular approaches to plant construction, and embarking on new E & P projects that have shorter payback periods.
The Train 7 project under plans by the NLNG will increase its production capacity from the current 22 MTPA to 30 MTPA when it becomes operational.
