Nigeria LNG
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), Tony Attah, has said the delay in taking the final investment decision (FID) in different LNG projects would rob the country of its competitive space at the global market.
Attah argued that for Nigeria to remain competitive in the global oil and gas industry, upstream investment needs to be increased, saying: “it’s time to prepare for the likely demand outlook that’s positive, and has out-performed projections in the last three years. Let’s get back to exploration and production activities.”
Attah spoke at an executive roundtable discussion titled, “growth outlook and strategies for staying competitive after a global downturn,” at the first Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) holding in Abuja.
He stated: “Nigeria started 24 months after Qatar. Qatar now produces 77 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), and is the number one LNG supplier in the world, while Nigeria is still on 22mtpa. Australia is already flooding the market and will knock down Qatar to the third or fourth place.
In Africa, significant gas finds in excess of 127 tcf in Mozambique have created the potential for another African super player.
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Mozambique is expected to become the second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2025, as the country steps up production from 10mtpa in 2017 to an envisaged 50mtpa.”
Attah noted that the real investment opportunity was last year, when prices were low. “But is not too late; that is why we need to take the decision on train 7 now, so we can stay within the top five space. The future is gas, and NLNG is ready to play. It is time for gas.”
He said projections put gas in the top quartile of the most competitive and strategic investments in the global energy market, while a combination of factors will give gas an edge as the preferred energy of the future.
He added that the global LNG trade is projected to nearly triple from about 12 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in 2015, to around 31tcf in 2040.
“Electric power sector carbon emissions are projected to be flat through 2050 as a result of favourable market conditions for natural gas and supportive policies for renewables compared with coal. The projections are underpinned by the prospect of the global economy growing at an average rate of 3.4 per cent per year, a population that expands from 7.4 billion today to more than nine billion in 2040, and a process of urbanisation that adds a city the size of shanghai to the world’s urban population every four months.
“Global energy consumption will increase in the future but on the other side of the fence, we also see the clamouring for cleaner energy rising and that is where gas comes in. coal will be totally displaced as a source of energy, followed by crude oil. Oil will still be in demand but (particularly as a source of power) will go down by about 50 per cent.
Source: G Business
