Yemisi Izuora
Nigeria LNG has said that it is only a facilitator of the $1.5b Dockyard proposed to be built in the country and not an investor in the project as earlier reported in some media.
The clarification came from Dr Kudo Eresia-Eke, General Manager, External Relations Nigeria LNG, when the President Rivers Entrepreneurs and Investors Forum, Mr. Ibifiri Bob-Manuel, and his team paid him a courtesy call at his office.
Dr Eresia-Eke said NLNG was only involved as a promoter of Nigerian Content.
He said the company insisted on three elements as part of the Nigerian Content for the ship building acquisition by one of its subsidiaries, Bonny Gas Transport Limited.
One of these elements was that the shipbuilders explore possibilities of creating a Dry Dock facility in Nigeria, training of at least 600 Nigerians in ship maintenance, and the purchase from Nigeria of local Nigerian products for the ship building project in South Korea.
Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) are constructing six new LNG carriers for NLNG subsidiary, Bonny Gas Transport Limited.
Dr Eresia-Eke, explained that it was up to the investors to decide how and where to invest their money. He also highlighted that new investors are welcome to develop other Dry Docks anywhere in the country.
The President of the forum, Mr Ibifiri Bob-Manuel thanked the General Manager for External Relations, Dr Eresia-Eke, for clearing the air.
Nigeria LNG Limited is the most significant arrow-head of the federal government’s continuing efforts to eliminate gas flaring and derive value from the country’s 187 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves. Official statistics indicate that Nigeria’s gas flaring profile, previously one of the highest in the world has further reduced from 25 to 11 percent.
NLNG is owned by four shareholders, namely, the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC (49%), Shell Gas BV, SGBV, (25.6%), Total LNG Nigeria Limited (15%), and Eni International (N.A,) N. V. S. a. r. l (10.4%).