BusinessDay 22 Aug 2018

Wednesday 22 August 2018
gas
Brief
Egypt:
Egypt to export gas starting
January, says minister
Egypt’s petroleum
minister, Tarek El
Molla, said that
the country would
begin exporting natural
gas in January 2019 adding
that the country would halt
gas imports in October this
year.
“It will be the beginning
of gas self-sufficiency, and
we will begin exporting the
surplus in January 2019,”
he said. He gave no further
details.
Egypt aims to be a regional
hub for the trade of
liquefied natural gas (LNG)
after a string of major discoveries
in recent years including
the giant Zohr offshore
gas field which holds
an estimated 30 trillion cubic
feet of gas.
Egypt is one of the biggest
energy markets in the
Africa with a relatively extensive
energy infrastructure,
especially for natural
gas. In 2015, Egypt became
a net gas importer after being
a key North African gas
exporter for a period of ten
years. This unfortunate, but
not unexpected, situation
was the result of a decline
in Egypt’s indigenous natu-
ral gas production combined
with a rapidly rising
domestic gas demand
driven mainly by large energy
price subsidies. Major
changes are presently taking
place on the gas supply
side which are significantly
impacting on the country’s
natural gas balance and the
economy in general.
Given the dominant
position of natural gas in
Egypt’s energy scene, the
government needed to take
urgent and drastic action to
unlock Egypt’s gas supply
potential.
In 2013/2014, it started
implementing a more favourable
upstream development
policy to reverse
the country’s declining gas
supply profile. New policy
measures helped bring
about the discovery of the
Zohr field in 2015 and its
fast-track development,
and other gas discoveries
(West Nile Delta, Greater
Nooros, and Atoll) were
made in recent years. Future
supplies from all the
newly discovered fields are
expected to produce the
equivalent of Egypt’s present
natural gas output.
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY
03
WEST AFRICA
ENERGY intelligence
NLNG Train 7 to increase FDI in Nigeria
The Managing
Director and
Chief Executive
Officer of
Nigeria LNG
Limited (NLNG), Tony Attah,
said NLNG’s planned
Train 7 Project, which will
increase production output
of its plant from 22 Million
Tonnes Per Annum
(MTPA) to 30 MTPA, will
lift Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) in the country.
He said this during the visit
of the Honourable Minister
of Finance, Kemi Adeosun,
to the NLNG’s plant
complex on Bonny Island,
Rivers State.
Briefing the Minister
on NLNG’s operations and
business, Attah said NLNG
will be seeking an estimation
of $7 billion from the
global international markets
to cover the construction
of Train 7) (and investment
in the upstream
gas sector in Nigeria that
will ensure the sustainability
of feedgas supply to its
existing trains (Trains 1 to
6) and the new Train 7.
“We are committed to
our expansion goals of
building an additional production
train to our plant.
We believe this will ensure
our country becomes
a country that has been
able to unleash its gas po-
tentials and one that is in
a transitional state from
an oil-based economy to
a gas-based economy. We
also hope that Train 7 will
change the country’s revenue
and foreign investment
profile.”
He remarked that only
recently, NLNG commemorated
the repayment of a
$5.45 billion Shareholder
loan. The consolidated
loan contributed towards
funding the Base Project,
Expansion Project, NLNG
Plus Project and Train
6. The final repayment,
which is a milestone for
NLNG and Nigeria, sends
a strong message to the
world that Nigeria is ready
for more foreign investments.
He added that the economic
impact of increased
LNG production output
will be significant, stating
that since the start of
our operations 19 years
ago, NLNG has generated
more than $90 billion in
revenue and has paid over
$16 billion dividends to the
Global LNG:
Prices edge up as focus switches to winter storage
Asian liquefied
natural gas (LNG)
spot prices edged
higher as attention
shifted to cargoes for
winter storage, though few
shipments changed hands.
LNG cargo prices for
delivery in October LNG-
AS were about $11.10 per
million British thermal
units (Btu), up from $11.
September cargoes were
still being sold, with prices
assessed at $10.20 to
$10.30 per mmBtu, up 20-
30 cents.
A prolonged heatwave
through large areas of China
and in Japan over the
L-R: Salem Sallam, NLNG manager, Government Relations; Sadeeq Mai-Bornu, NLNG Deputy MD;
Tony Attah, NLNG MD; Hon. minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; NLNG chairman, O.R. LongJohn;
Board Member, Cordelia Agboti; and NLNG general manager, production, Tayo Oginni, during the
Minister’s visit to NLNG Plant, Bonny Island…over the weekend.
past month has kept prices
above three-year highs,
where they have been
since April.
A harsh winter in 2017-
2018, compounded by
soaring Chinese demand,
sparked that long rally
and the start of buying for
this winter’s storage could
maintain that trend.
Multiple traders said
that South Korean staterun
utility KOGAS, the
Federal Government, with
respect to its 49 per cent
shareholding in the company,
held by Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC). In addition,
NLNG has paid some
$13 Billion to the Federal
Government for feedgas
purchases and $6.5 billion
in taxes as well.
NLNG has also spent
over $200 million on Corporate
Social Responsibility
(CSR) projects in the
Niger Delta and the country
as a whole.
world’s second-largest
single corporate buyer of
LNG, waded into the market
and bought a large
number of cargoes after
holding talks with sellers
this month.
Few Chinese buyers
were seen having previously
bought large volumes,
and there could
be future bottlenecks at
some ports. Compared
with Japan and Korea, the
world’s number one and
three LNG buyers, Chinese
capacity for storage is
relatively low, which also
leaves it vulnerable during
winter demand spikes.