NLNG Targets End-2027 For $10bn Train 7 Project Start-up

The Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has said it is targeting the end of 2027 to start up its $10 billion Train 7 project, the company’s managing director, Adeleye Falade, has said.

Falade spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the Gastech conference in Bangkok on Monday.

The Train 7 project, sited on Bonny Island, is designed to raise NLNG’s production capacity to 30 million metric tonnes per annum from the current 22 million metric tonnes. The project has suffered repeated delays, most recently linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Falade disclosed that NLNG remains under a force majeure declared in 2022, after widespread flooding disrupted gas supply to the plant. He said the company would lift the measure once it reaches a 90 per cent utilisation rate, noting that the plant is currently operating at between 82 and 83 per cent.

“We still have a delta of about 15 per cent that we need to close,” Falade said. “Operationally, we are able to do that, but our biggest constraint is gas supply, and we’re working with all the relevant people, including the government, to be able to get more gas to flow into the plant.”

He said the company’s immediate priority remained meeting its existing contractual obligations to buyers under the force majeure arrangement.

On the global LNG market, Falade said interest in additional volumes and spot cargoes from NLNG had grown following the disruption of exports through the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran conflict, as buyers sought more diversified and reliable sources of supply.

“Our priority currently is to continue to make sure that we fulfil our obligations to our existing customers and maximise as much production opportunity as possible that we have,” he added.

NLNG is majority-owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), with foreign partners Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni holding the remaining stakes.