Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has said that the coming on stream of the Nigeria Natural Liquefy Gas (NLNG) has helped to cut down gas flaring from 65 percent to a mere 12 percent in the last decade.
The minister who performed the ground breaking ceremony of the NLNG in Bayelsa State today, June 15, on behalf of President Muhammadu Bihari said: “one of the remarkable benefits is that the nation’s operational flare status has reduced drastically from 65% when Nigeria LNG came into operation to about 12% today. This is evidence that Nigeria LNG is a blessing to the nation as it positively complemented crude oil exploration by monetizing flared gas, today yielding huge revenue for the nation and the investors.
“The jobs created and the business opportunities realized since the inception of the LNG operations in Bonny Island is also remarkable. Indeed, the impact of Nigeria LNG’s operation has been positive both for the company’s host communities and for Nigerians who are now enjoying the impactful social investment that Nigeria LNG sponsors at the national and the regional levels in the country.
“It is therefore very reassuring to support the expansion of Nigeria LNG’s operation with the addition of one more train to its already thriving six- train plant complex here in Bonny Kingdom, to make it a seven-train LNG complex.’
The minister said the ground-breaking ceremony “is a guarantee to every stakeholder of more dividends in terms of further reduction in gas flaring, more revenue for the nation and the shareholders, more job opportunities especially at the construction phase and more social investments for our society.
“Unlike the previous trains, the Nigerian Content level in the Train 7 project is at a record-breaking level of 55% Nigerian Content for a midstream project covering engineering, fabrication, construction, manufacturing, logistics, and many other areas”, stressing that the “provisions have been made for the Community Content aspects of the Train-7 project as contained in the NOGICD Act. This is the first time that the NCDMB Community Content guidelines is being deployed on a mega project like this to ensure massive community participation.”
Sylva said that as Nigeria consolidates it’s status as a gas exporting nation, “we are also rolling out policies to ramp up our domestic utilization of gas. The year 2020 as the Year of Gas was a remarkable success. We have shifted our focus to years 2021 to 2030 as the Decade of Gas wherein we will deepen LPG and CNG penetration across the country for domestic cooking, power generation, and Autogas for vehicles.”
He said that the coming on stream of Train 7 will enable the increase of LNG exports to markets that have growing demand for LNG as a preferred fuel for industrialization and power generation; similar template to utilize LNG will be replicated in Nigeria to further hasten our industrial development.
In his brief remarks, the Group Managing Director (GMD) Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mallam Mele Kyari said the coming on stream of Train 7 would create job opportunities and expand investments opportunities in the gas sector.
He thanked President Buhari for his commitments in helping to resolve all uncertainties that delayed the final investment decision on the project adding that “Today history is made. Mr President today is your day”.
Kyari said that the expectations of the president in respect of more LNG Trains is assured with the ground breaking ceremony of the Train 7 project.
The NNPC boss said with the realization of the multi billion naira NLNG Train 7, the confidence of “our shareholders have been assured. We are confident that more investments will come.
