LNG

The Nigeria LNG plant at Bonny Island in the Niger Delta is set for more feed gas from development of the onshore Ubeta gas field first discovered 60 years ago in the West African nation with world-class oil and gas untapped reserves.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., the state energy company, and French major TotalEnergies said they had agreed to develop the field at an initial cost of $550 million.

TotalEnergies is the operator of the onshore licence for the Nigerian Ubeta's gas field with a 40 percent while NNPC will own 60 percent.

The field is located about 80 kilometres northwest of Port Harcourt in Rivers state, and the current licence covers two fields currently in production, the Obagi oil field and the Ibewa gas and condensate field.

The Ubeta gas volumes will be processed at the nearby Obite gas treatment centre and supplied to both the Nigerian domestic gas market and to the Nigeria LNG plant.

Schedule

The production start-up is expected in 2027, with a plateau of 300 million cubic feet per day, or about 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day including condensates.

TotalEnergies, which has a 15 percent stake in the Bonny Island liquefaction and export project, said the Ubeta field would be part of and expansion of LNG output from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 MTPA.

NNPC Chief Executive Mallam Mele Kyari said he appreciated the support from stakeholders as well as from the administration of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.

“We appreciate presidential support for the fiscal terms of the agreement,” Kyari added.

The TotalEnergies Senior Vice President African Exploration and Production, Mike Sangster, said the Ubeta project is the latest in a series to tap associated gas from oil production.

“Ubeta fits perfectly with our strategy of developing low-cost and low emission projects, and will contribute to the Nigerian economy through higher LNG exports,’ Sangster added.

Train Seven

The Nigerian LNG plant has been in production since 1999 and the shareholders in addition to TotalEnergies are held by NNPC with 49 percent, Shell with 25.6 percent and Italy’s Eni with 10.4 percent.

The facility has capacity to producer 26 MTPA of LNG from six liquefaction Trains, though the development of a seventh LNG Train has suffered from delays.

French energy major Total said it planned to expand its Mozambique liquefied natural gas project with up to two additional processing Trains, taking the total up to four Trains.