NLNG awards contract for plants to TSKJ consortium

24-03-02 The Nigeria LNG (NLNG) said it had awarded foreign consortium TSKJ a $ 2 bn contract for two new plants, whose addition would make Nigeria one of the world's top LNG producers. The two plants in Bonny, Rivers State, are to begin production in 2005. They will promote Nigeria as one of the world's three largest producers of LNG, raising its share of the LNG world market from 7 to 13 %, the company said.
NLNG, the largest LNG project in Africa, began commercial production from its initial two plants in October 1999. A third plant is to come on stream in November. TSKJ -- a consortium comprising US energy services giant Halliburton, France's Technip and TotalFinaElf, Italy's Snamprogetti and Japan's JGC Corporation -- built NLNG's base plants and is currently finalising the third.

The two new plants, NLNG's fourth and fifth, will bring the company's annual production capacity to 17 mm tons of LNG of gas, 1 mm tons of condensate and 2.3 mm tons of LPG, the statement said. Each of the new plants has an annual production capacity of 4 mm tons of LNG and up to 0.5 mm tons of LPG.
NLNG said the planned expansion in its production capacity meant it would need eight additional vessels to distribute the gas. In December last year the company signed an agreement with South Korea's Hyundai for the construction of four new ships. The other four ships will be chartered from Bergesen of Norway, it added.

NLNG is a Nigerian joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which has a 49 % state, Anglo-Dutch Shell Gas, with 25.6 %, TotalFinaElf, with 15 % and Italy's Agip International, with 10.4 %. The company's major buyers include Enel of Italy, Enagas of Spain, Botas of Turkey, Gaz de France and Transgas of Portugal.
NLNG said the final decision to invest in the two plants was taken by the shareholders of the multi-billion-dollar gas firm and the contract was awarded to TSKJ. Meanwhile, the management of the Nigeria LNG (NLNG) ordered the suspension of production and the shutting down of the gas plant following some technical problems.

Sources at the company disclosed that the dusting down of the plant was necessitated by the break down of the gas turbine which supplies electricity to the multi billion naira company and its environs. "For the past 24 hours, we have not been producing, even though we are expecting a ship to load some gas from us" the source said.
Meanwhile, the company's engineers are reported to be making frantic efforts to restore power to the plant so that production can commence. Describing this development as strange one of the officials of the company told that there is however not much to worry about as "our engineers are working hard to restore power for production to return" NLNG experienced its first shut down shortly after it commenced productions in 1999 following some disagreements with its host community.
The company runs on four generators with a total power output of 160 MW. It was officially commissioned by President Olusegun Obasanjo in September last year. It was established in 1989 basically to harness the nation's vast gas potentials for export.

TSKJ is the joint venture team of Technip-Coflexip, Snamprogetti, Halliburton KBR and JGC.

With a workforce of about 18,000 and annual revenues of about EUR 5 bn, Technip-Coflexip ranks among the top five in the field of oil and petrochemical engineering, construction and services. Headquartered in Paris, the Group is listed in New York and in Paris.
The main engineering and business centres of Technip-Coflexip are located in France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, Finland, The Netherlands, the United States, Brazil, Abu-Dhabi, China, India, Malaysia and Australia. The Group has high-quality industrial and construction facilities in France, Brazil, the UK, the USA, and Finland as well as a world class fleet of offshore construction vessels.

Snamprogetti, a company of the ENI Group, is an international technology- orientated engineering and main contracting company, active in the fields of oil and gas processing production, refining, natural gas treatment and monetisation, fertilizer and petrochemical plants, onshore and offshore pipeline systems, infrastructure, power and environment plants.
Based in San Donato Milanese, Milan, Snamprogetti has major subsidiaries in Italy and in the United Kingdom as well as several offices worldwide. Staffed by 3,300 employees, the company has had an average turnover of over $ 1,500 mm in the last five years.

Halliburton KBR, a business unit of Halliburton, is an international, technology-based engineering and construction company which provides a full spectrum of industry-leading services for governments, public infrastructure and to the hydrocarbon, chemical, energy, and forest products industries. Halliburton, founded in 1919, is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries.

JGC is an international engineering and construction company based in Yokohama, Japan, having multiple operating centres and executing large-scale projects worldwide. JGC is currently executing projects in Nigeria, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Australia, Venezuela and other countries. Established in 1928, JGC has a strong background in lump sum turnkey operations of both hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon related projects with annual sales turnover of approximately $ 3 bn.