Sahara Group acquires 2 LPG carriers valued at $142m

Sahara Group, an energy conglomerate, has placed an order for two Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) vessels to further drive access to clean energy in Africa, in line with its commitment to promoting the continent’s march towards energy transition.

The contracts for the two 40,000-cubic metres capacity carriers were signed recently in Singapore between Sahara Group with headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Ulsan-based HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE).

Valued at $71 million each, the two LPG carriers are expected to boost the energy conglomerate’s strategic investments aimed at fostering safe, reliable, and sustainable access to LPG which is widely regarded as a cleaner source of energy that serves large populations.

The Ulsan-based Hyundai Mipo Shipyard (HMD) is scheduled to deliver one vessel in December 2025 and the other ship in early 2026. HMD is one of the largest shipbuilding companies with a world share rank of 1 (50%) in PC (Product Carrier). Since the 1980s, more than 10,000 ships were repaired and converted until 2005, and 400 newly ordered ships were delivered until 2009.

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Sahara Group, through its subsidiary Sahara Energy, has a stake in four vessels registered under West Africa Gas, also known as West Africa LPG, a joint venture between Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) and Ocean Bed Trading.

Ocean Bed Trading is an oil and gas trading company and is a subsidiary of Sahara Energy. The latter holds 40 percent stake in the joint outfit.

West Africa Gas currently owns four HMD-built LPG carriers: the 38,148-cbm Africa Gas and Sahara Gas (both built in 2017) and the 2022-built 23,000-cbm Sapet Gas and Barumk Gas.

During a delivery ceremony for Sapet Gas and Barumk Gas at HMD in May last year, the Group Chief Executive Officer, of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, disclosed that the joint venture planned to acquire about 10 oil and gas vessels over the next decade.

Isaac Anyaogu

Isaac Anyaogu is an Assistant editor and head of the energy and environment desk. He is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, energy and environmental policies, regulation and climate change impacts in Africa. He was part of a journalist team that investigated lead acid pollution by an Indian recycler in Nigeria and won the international prize - Fetisov Journalism award in 2020. Mr Anyaogu joined BusinessDay in January 2016 as a multimedia content producer on the energy desk and rose to head the desk in October 2020 after several ground breaking stories and multiple award wining stories. His reporting covers start-ups, companies and markets, financing and regulatory policies in the power sector, oil and gas, renewable energy and environmental sectors He has covered the Niger Delta crises, and corruption in NIgeria’s petroleum product imports. He left the Audit and Consulting firm, OR&C Consultants in 2015 after three years to write for BusinessDay and his background working with financial statements, audit reports and tax consulting assignments significantly benefited his reporting. Mr Anyaogu studied mass communications and Media Studies and has attended several training programmes in Ghana, South Africa and the United States

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