KBR backing Nigeria’s first ever FLNG facility
US-based engineering firm KBR said May 20 it would support the development of the first-ever floating liquified natural gas (FLNG) facility in Nigeria.
KBR said it had received a contract from Nigeria’s UTM Offshore to review the pre-front end engineering design work now underway at Japanese engineering company JGC. KBR did not release the value of the contract.
|
Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. |
UTM, in coordination with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, is leading the development of the planned facility. It will be capable of exporting up to 176mn ft³/day (1.8bn m³/yr) of gas.
UTM plans to produce 1.2mn metric tons/year of LNG using gas resources at the Yoho field within the shallow water OML104 block, operated by ExxonMobil and state-owned NNPC and already flowing oil. The FLNG is expected up and running in 2025, depending on study results.
Its launch would bring an end to energy company Nigeria LNG (NLNG)'s monopoly over LNG exports. NLNG operates Nigeria's only active LNG terminal. Its current capacity is 22mn mt/yr, although the consortium took a final investment decision in December 2019 to add a seventh train and is undertaking other upgrades to raise output to 30mn mt/yr in 2024.
Nigeria's department of petroleum resources issued a licence for the FLNG plant in February, valid for two years. In that time UTM must take a final investment decision. The company has not said whether it will order a new FLNG unit or use an existing vessel.