The Managing Director of the Nigeria LNG Limited, NLNG, Mr. Tony Attah, has projected that planned NLNG’s Train 7 project, which will increase the nation’s liquefied natural gas output by about 30 million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) on completion will improve the nation’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the years ahead.
He gave this projection at the weekend when the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, visted the NLNG’s plant complex on Bonny Island, Rivers State.
Briefing the minister on NLNG’s operations and business outlook generally, the Attah explained that the company would source for $7 billion from the global international markets to cover the construction of Trains 1 to 7 of the project.
He assured the minister: “We are committed to our expansion goals of building an additional production train to our plant. We believe this will ensure our country becomes a country that has been able to unleash its gas potentials and one that is in a transitional state from an oil-based economy to a gas-based economy. We also hope that Train 7 will change the country’s revenue and foreign investment profile.”
Recalling that the company commemorated the repayment of a US$5.45 billion shareholder loan recently which contributed towards funding the Base Project, Expansion Project, NLNG Plus Project and Train 6, Attah pointed out that the final repayment indicated that Nigeria remained credit worthy and ready for more foreign investments.
He explained further that since the start of our operations of the NLNG 19 years ago, the company had raked in over $90 billion in revenue to government’s coffers and also paid over $16 billion dividends to the Federal Government based on its 49 percent equity in the company.
Similarly, the NLNG boss said that the company had paid some $13 Billion to the Federal Government for feedgas purchases and $6.5 billion in taxes while also spending over $200 million on Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, projects in the Niger Delta region and other parts of the country.
According to him, the company also takes up about 50 percent of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply in the country and also have committed about 350, 000 tonnes to the domestic market.
Attah projected further: “We believe that with an increase in our production, these numbers will be impacted on positively and this will help with the country’s revenue generation profile.”
In her remarks, the Finance Minister noted that company remained a high performing entity and expressed Federal Government’s satisfaction with its performance, describing it as an ideal model for the sector.
The NLNG is owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria represented by NNPC with 49 percent equity; Shell Gas B.V. 25.6 percent equity; Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France, 15 percent and Eni International N.A. N. V. S.àr. l, 10.4 percent.
