Nigeria LNG remains under force majeure as output dips below 50% of capacity: operator

Nigeria’s LNG export facility at Bonny remains under force majeure more than a year after it was first declared with output from the six-train plant having fallen below 50% of its nameplate capacity, the plant operator said Nov. 8.

Nigeria LNG (NLNG) declared force majeure on Oct. 17 last year after flooding impacted the ability of gas suppliers to feed gas to the facility and remains in place due to continued disruption to gas feedstock supply.

“Supply of gas to the Bonny plant still faces major constraint and is keeping production at the plant well below capacity,” an NLNG spokesperson said. “The force majeure remains in place.”

The six-train LNG export facility has a capacity of 22.5 million mt/year (31 Bcm/year) but is being expanded to 30 million mt/year with the addition of a seventh train.

Last year, Nigeria’s LNG exports totaled some 14.7 million mt, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights, and so far this year have reached 12.5 million mt.

Spain has taken the most Nigerian LNG in 2023 to date, with imports of 3.3 million mt followed by Portugal (1.4 million mt) and China (0.9 million mt).

A company statement quoted NLNG managing director Philip Mshelbila as saying that gas supplies to the Bonny plant continued to be disrupted due to recurrent sabotage attacks on pipelines and low production from aging wells.

“The company is facing difficulties in getting adequate gas supply and the result is under-production at below 50% of total installed capacity,” Mshelbila said.

He said NLNG was looking to procure gas feedstock from outside of its traditional suppliers to enhance the performance of the existing six trains at the site.

Disruption to gas supply had already reduced production at the plant to 68% of its nameplate capacity last year.

Meanwhile, spot LNG prices remain high, with the Platts benchmark JKM price for delivery into northeast Asia last assessed Nov. 7 at $15.56/MMBtu, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

‘Decade of Gas’

Nigeria in 2021 launched its roadmap on gas development known as “The Decade of Gas” and promised new efforts to advance its gas sector to help underpin economic development.

The government is focusing not only on fully developing the country’s estimated 203 Tcf of existing proved gas deposits, but also on unlocking up to 600 Tcf in unproven gas resources.

As well as expanding the NLNG plant to 30 million mt/year with the construction of a seventh train, work is underway to deploy floating LNG infrastructure in the West African country.

State-owned NNPC agreed in August a new heads of term with LNG specialist Golar LNG for the potential deployment of a floating LNG export facility in Nigeria, having also agreed to join UTM Offshore’s FLNG project in late July.
Source: platts