Galp Says Early Days with NLNG Renegotiation

Pedro Ricardo, executive director for supply and trading at Portugal's Galp, one of the first companies with Nigeria LNG contracts expiring, has said talks on their renegotiation are "at the early stages."

Speaking on the margins of the CWC LNG conference in Lisbon on its final day, December 1, he expected progress to be made in 2018.

Ricardo said there were separate contracts entered into when NLNG trains 1 and 2 started up, almost 20 years ago, plus a further contract when its further expansion was developed.

Galp wants these three rolled into a single contract, he said, without giving any pointer as to what pricing indexation it would prefer. Its earliest contracts are believed to be oil-indexed.

Galp has 0.26mn mt/yr of NLNG contractual volume scheduled for expiry in 2021 (0.4bn m³/yr). Ricardo said additionally it was a 1bn m³/yr contract that expires 2023, and a further 2bn m³/yr expiring 2027.

NLNG CEO Tony Attah told the conference earlier this week that it has 9mn mt/yr from Trains 1 to 3 to renegotiate, typically expiring between 2020 and around 2023.