Nigeria’s state oil firm, NNPC, has sealed a deal with fellow developer UTM Offshore to take a 20% stake in the country’s first-ever floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project.
The planned FLNG vessel will process and liquefy gas from the Yoho field offshore Nigeria, most likely starting in 2026, and the agreement is seen as the next step towards finalising the project.
The facility will comprise a turret mooring system, gas pre-treatment modules, LNG production modules, living quarters, self-contained power generation and utilities along with storage and offloading.
Last year, UTM Offshore penned the front-end engineering and design contract with KBR, Japan Gas Corporation, and Technip Energies. A final investment decision is expected to be taken in the fourth quarter of 2023.
When completed, the unit will produce around 1.5m of LNG and 300,000 tonnes of LPG, which will be fully dedicated to the domestic market. The project is estimated to provide direct employment for 3,000 Nigerians and indirect employment for an additional 4,000 people.
Africa’s biggest oil producer, Nigeria, holds some of the world’s biggest gas reserves. NNPC also has a memorandum of understanding in place with Tor Olav Trøim-backed Golar LNG for an FLNG vessel.
