UTM Offshore mulls FID on floating LNG project
Olubunmi Martins
The Managing Director of UTM Offshore, Julius Rone has disclosed progress leading to Final Investment Decision (FID) on the construction of Nigeria’s floating LNG facility, first of its type in Africa.
He gave insight into the impending progress on Monday, at a function by the African Local Content Investment Forum, organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.
The proposed floating LNG facility is planned to process 176 mn ft³/d of gas from Yoho fields located in oml 104 and it is described as a major flagship of LNG developments in Nigeria.
Julius Rone said “We have put together funds in excess of Usd5bn which we derived from the International finance consortium, in cooperation with African Export-Import Bank” We envisage final investment decision of this project by year-end or the first quarter of next year and we are committed to delivering a significant volume of our output to shore up Nigeria gas requirements.
The demand for LNG cargoes is envisaged to rise with the United States of America outpacing Qatar as the world’s largest supplier.
Vitol – a global energy trading company, for instance, signed up with UTM offshore as the offtaker, on completion of the LNG processing facility.
African countries are emerging more strongly with Mozambique delivering its first cargo of LNG sometime next month and this trend is forecast by the International Energy Agency to continue over time as the global economic rebound on the preference for gas – as transition fuel to cleaner energy.
African producers of hydrocarbon resources have mounted a diplomatic and advocacy campaign to support the development of the continent’s 126bn barrels of crude oil, a passion shared by UTM Offshore as the company anticipates further expansions in the LNG landscape.
