The Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), said it will cut down on export volumes for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas, and push more into the domestic market to check galloping prices occasioned by shortages.
To this end, NLNG Managing Director, Philip Mshelbila, informed that the gas company will increase supply to the domestic market to 450,000 metric tons (mt) per annum up from the 250,000 mt/year supplied.
He told participants at an energy conference organised by the National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC), in Lagos that the balance of its output will be exported to the Western markets.
Mshelbila said: “As part of the measures to support the Federal Government’s efforts to deepen domestic gas supply and economic growth, Nigeria LNG is reducing LPG exports and increasing supplies to the domestic market.”
Also, NLNG said it had increased the number of offtakers to 43 from the initial six contracted in 2007, to meet rising demand.
The government projects that Nigeria’s domestic LPG demand will grow to 3 million MT/year by 2026 from the current 1MMT/year.
The Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd., Mele Kyari, said, Nigeria requires up to $2.7 billion to revamp LPG and other gas distribution infrastructure in the country.
As part of the measures to support the Federal Government’s efforts to deepen domestic gas supply and economic growth, Nigeria LNG is reducing LPG exports and increasing supplies to the domestic market.
To boost supply and availability, oil producers said they are prepared to channel investment in building the needed infrastructure to boost Nigeria’s domestic gas supply.
The Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Gas, Ed Ubong, said at the conference that while much of the gas from Shell operated Gbaran-Ubie field, which produces about 864 million metric cubic feet daily MMcf/d of gas for export, the company is building infrastructure to deliver the gas to local industries.
NLNG is a joint venture involving the state-owned NNPC and Shell, Eni and TotalEnergies, and produces around 7M mt/year of LPG (propane and butane) from its six trains.
Pull Quote:
