As part of its renewed efforts to maintain its market share of the global supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the international market, the Nigeria LNG Limited targets to export 325 cargoes of LNG to European and Asian customers in 2014.
The Head of Gas Supply at NLNG Limited, Mr. Emmanuel Nnabuife, said, at a recent celebration of the loading and casting off of the 3,000th LNG cargo from the Bonny Island plant in Rivers State, that the company had targeted to load 325 cargoes in 2013, but could not achieve this target.
He said the company ended up exporting 280 cargoes because of the blockade by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), which accounted for non-export of 25 cargoes and the disruption of gas supply to the plant as a result of vandalism.
“In 2013, we started with a plan to do 325 cargoes. But we ended up with 280 cargoes because of the challenges we had with some of our external stakeholders, one of them, as you know, is the NIMASA issue we had in June, which led to the loss of about 25 cargoes off our production plan. Also, we suffered gas supply constraints because of the challenges we have in the Niger Delta today. People go in and drill into the pipelines and what that creates is that we have to shut down to repair the lines. For any of those interventions, production suffers. But by and large, we closed the year with 280 cargoes, which is about 45 cargoes below the target, hoping that this year, we will do close to 325,” he said.
With the current price of LNG at the international market, THISDAY gathered that the 45 cargoes translate to a loss of about $1.35billion revenue.
Nnabuife said the company sets a target for itself every year, based on best practices around the world, to track how it performs and to ensure continuous improvement.
He noted that in 2012, the company performed very well, relative to its targets.
He said the company had started a process of securing additional six new ships to replace old ones, as part of the company’s asset rejuvenation programme to secure its long-term contracts.
“All these are geared towards ensuring that we continuously sustain and control our share in the market,” he added.
The six new vessels are to be built between last year and 2016, with financing being arranged in two programmes.
First, is a $308 six-year Additional Programme Debt (APD) and a $11 billion 12-year New Vessel Debt (NVD).
The NLNG Limited recently exported its 3,000th Cargo of LNG from its Bonny Island terminal. The Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the company, Mr. Babs Omotowa said the milestone cargo’s destination was Marmara LNG Terminal for Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation, one of the NLNG Limited’s customers in Turkey.
The cargo was shipped onboard one of the 24 NLNG’s vessels, LNG Lokoja.
From the export of its first cargo on October 9, 1999, which was delivered to Montoir LNG Terminal in France, the Nigeria LNG has grown to become Africa’s largest single private sector industrial investment, safely and reliably supplying about seven per cent of total world LNG demand.