Posted by on
Nigeria plans 6 bln usd LNG plant; financed with ChevronTexaco, BG unit
LAGOS (AFX) - Oil and gas-rich Nigeria plans to build a new 6 bln usd liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant by 2008 in a project to be co-financed with ChevronTexaco and British Gas West African Ltd, officials said.
The new plant will be the second in the west African country of some 130 mln people after the Nigeria LNG plant at Bonny Island, Rivers State, began commercial production in Oct 1999.
A spokesman for the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) quoted the company's managing director Funso Kupolokun as saying the new plant will be sited at Olokola in the southwestern state of Ondo.
The spokesman said the plant, to be known as OK-LNG, will produce 30 mln tonnes of LNG a year, but that the project will be executed in three phases, with the first phase producing 10 mln tonnes by 2008.
He said a final decision to invest in the first phase of the project will be taken in 2006 to ascertain the financial involvement of the three partners, while other partners will be needed for the remaining phases.
He said the new plant is designed to meet Nigeria's target of 70 mln tonnes of LNG by 2009.
The existing Nigeria LNG facility, the single largest industrial investment in Africa, is a joint venture owned by NNPC, Anglo-Dutch Shell Gas, TotalFinaElf and Italy's Agip.