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.

March 14 (LNGJ) - The “LNG Sokoto” tanker with 137,500 cubic metres of capacity berthed early on March 14 at the UK Isle of Grain LNG import terminal on the Medway River in Kent with a shipment from the Nigerian Bonny Island export plant, according to shipping data. The cargo delivered to UK company National Grid plc was lifted from the Nigerian plant on February 26.

Feb 2 (LNGJ) – The Nigerian export plant at Bonny island is keeping up the flow of LNG deliveries to terminals in the European Union. The 142,650 cubic metres capacity vessel “LNG Adamawa” is heading for the French Mediterranean port of Fos-sur-Mer to deliver a cargo on February 3 from the Nigerian export facility.

   The 177,000 cubic metres capacity carrier vessel “LNG Bonny II” is heading for the southeast Spanish port of Cartagena and will arrive on February 3. Another Nigerian delivery is scheduled for the Huelva terminal in southwest Spain with the 148,480 cubic metres capacity “LNG Ondo” set to berth on February 9.

African Energy Week 2021 is scheduled to take place in Cape Town from November 9-12 and will unite African Energy Ministers, oil and gas executives as well as national and international companies for four days of discussions and presentations.

The four-day event is taking place at the V&A Waterfront in the South African coastal city.

As the premier oil and gas event and the first sub-Saharan energy conference to take place on the continent in 2021, AEW 2021 is expected to provide the most suitable platform for a collaborative discussion on Africa’s energy future.

The theme of the Cape Town conference is “Making Energy Poverty History by 2030” and it will be hosted by South African Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe, who will be one of the key speakers.

“AEW is a major exhibition and networking event of the African Energy Chamber (AEC) that seeks to unite African energy stakeholders and drive industry growth and development,” said the AEC.

“The event promotes Africa and its energy future with a four-day, high-level conference comprising networking sessions, innovative exhibitions, one-on-one private meetings and much more,” added the AEC.

Attendees

African ministers likely to attend AEW include those from leading LNG producers and countries with LNG projects, including Chief Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum, Gabriel Obiang Lima, Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons and Aissattu Sophie Gladima, the Minister of Petroleum and Energy for Senegal.

Other ministers in the line-up include Jaden Ali Obaid from Sudan, Alhaji Sesay of Sierra Leone, Ruth Nankabirwa from Uganda, Bruno Jean Richard Itoua, Minister of Hydrocarbons for the Republic of Congo, and Tom Alweendo, Minister of Mines and Energy for Namibia.

After attending AEW 2021 in Cape Town, the ministers will likely head for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. hosted ADIPEC forum in the United Arab Emirates, taking place from November 15-18.

ADIPEC will provide another platform for the discussion of Africa’s energy landscape, with a dedicated “Focus on Africa” session, led by African energy ministers and offering up key insight into Africa’s post-Covid-19 pandemic energy outlook.

“The UAE and Africa have a long history of successful relations across the entire energy sector value chain,” said Equatorial Guinea’s Gabriel Obiang.

“Through the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as with regard to the African energy transition, the UAE has emerged as a valuable partner for the continent, working closely with African countries to help develop both their economies and energy sectors,” stated the Minister. 

The Government of Ivory Coast has held talks on its large oil and gas discovery containing significant volumes of associated natural gas and offering the potential for its energy renaissance as a West African regional hub.

Gas Malaysia, the Asian nation’s domestic natural gas network operator and supplier and with a licence to import LNG, expects an improved performance in 2021 after Covid-19 challenges as it expands its network and customer base in Peninsular Malaysia.

Nigeria LNG has finally signed a letter of intent for the engineering, procurement and construction contract with a consortium of companies from Italy, Japan and South Korea to proceed with the construction of a seventh liquefaction Train.

The French Atlantic Coast Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG import terminal said its call for capacity subscriptions currently ongoing will enter its final binding phase in October 2019.