Nigeria is failing to make speed to build train 7 of its highly lucrative liquefied natural gas (LNG) business but British Petroleum, BP and its partners have just given the green light for the development of a large gas project off the coast of Mauritania and Senegal.
Nigeria’s oil and gas sector has a dubious reputation of being one of the few where it takes the longest amount of time to move from project idea to implementation as a result of lethargy of government officials. Nigeria’s train 7, a $7bn investment, was first mooted 10 years ago but the government has yet failed to get the parties to sign a final investment decision, FID to expand the project from current 22mtpa to 30 million tonnes per annum capacity.
The Tortue floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility will produce 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per year from a field that is estimated to hold total gas resources estimated at around 15 trillion cubic feet. BP’s trading arm has been selected as the sole buyer of the project’s LNG.
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Energy giant BP had a very bitter experience in Nigeria where it had hoped to build an extensive network of gas projects but pulled out after being frustrated by government officials and it now hopes to begin work on the Senegal/Mauritania project in the first quarter of 2019, while the first gas is expected to be produced in 2022.
The Tortue go-ahead was given after the governments of Mauritania and Senegal reached an agreement over the sharing of production from the development.
To be known as the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim development, the project will be Africa’s deepest at 2 kilometres below the sea’s surface and will consist of a complex floating vessel with a plant to super-chill natural gas into liquid, BP said in a statement.
The planned LNG plant for Mauritania and Senegal is the first for the two fellow West African nations and that it is happening shows well that while Nigeria dithers, the rest of the world is not waiting for Africa’s sleeping giant better known for her potentials.
This is the second major LNG project to get the go-ahead this year as energy companies bet on a sharp rise in gas demand, with rival Shell also deciding to press on with the development of a plant in western Canada.
BP is the project’s operator, with a 60 percent stake in the development in Senegal and 62 percent in Mauritania. Other partners include Kosmos Energy, with a 30 percent stake in Senegal and 28 percent in Mauritania.
Societe des Petroles du Senegal (PETROSEN) and Societe Mauritanienne Des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier (SMHPM) each hold a 10 percent stake on their side.
Nigeria first shipped LNG from its Train-1 in September 1999 and Train-2 came on board in February 2000; Train-3 in 2002; Trains 4 and 5 in November 2005 and February 2006; and Train-6 came on stream in December 2007.
“The government in Nigeria knows how to bicker over the huge profit which comes from the company every year but it seems they cannot just come together to bake a bigger cake”, one analyst said last night.
