Germany Looks to Nigeria's LNG to Fuel its Growing Ship-building Industry…
Germany is planning to seal a deal that could see Nigeria supply Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to her ship-building industry, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said.
The corporation said yesterday in Abuja that the development could lead to Nigeria expanding its LNG market destinations to Europe in the coming years.
A statement from the spokesperson of the NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, explained that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu had a trade delegation from Germany indicating the country’s growing desire for Nigeria’s gas to be supplied to them.
The delegation according to the statement was led by the German Vice Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Mr. Uwe Beckmeyer.
Beckmeyer, who is said to be a member of the German parliament, said the country was seeking to develop business relationship with Nigeria to accelerate the supply of LNG especially in the country’s ship building industry.
Beckmeyer stated that Nigeria’s LNG would come in handy as Germany and other European industrial powers seek to cut down drastically on carbon dioxide (C02) emissions arising from heavy industrial operations since LNG is far friendlier to the environment.
“We have a lot of interest in LNG and I think this is one special thing we should develop in the next few years. I think there is increasing demand in Europe especially as we seek to reduce emissions. It is useful for both sides to develop this special business relationship,” Beckmeyer said.
The statement also noted Kachikwu’s embrace of the development.
He said Nigeria was ready to embrace the interest for improved business relationship expressed by the German trade delegation.
He further promised that the federal government has remained committed to work on the Train-7 of the Nigeria LNG. According to him, this would help accommodate potential off-takers from new markets.
According to the German federal ministry for economic affairs and energy, the country in 2014 consumed an overall gas volume of 85 billion cubic metres out of which domestic production accounted for just under 10 per cent.
The ministry explained that Germany would remain highly dependent on imports of natural gas in future, adding that at present, some 90 per cent of overall demand is supplied by other countries such as Russia and Norway, exclusively via pipelines.
Meanwhile the statement also said state governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) have expressed satisfaction with the performance of Kachikwu in his positions.
It quoted the Zamfara State Governor and Chairman of the NGF, Mallam Abdulaziz Yari, who led a team of governors to visit Kachikwu, to have expressed confidence in his ability to lead the NNPC and Nigeria’s oil and gas industry to the desired levels.
According to the statement, Yari stated that the visit of the governors was indicative of the level of confidence the NGF has in Kachikwu.
He reportedly said: “What we are seeing is not NNPC of yesterday, you can see for yourself the change we are talking about. In the last eight years you have not seen a group of governors coming to NNPC to find out what is going on as critical stakeholders. So you can see the change we are talking about.”
He also stated the support of the governors to NNPC’s plan to build new mega petrol filling stations in each of the senatorial zones of the country, saying: “We are happy with his performance, in fact when he made a presentation to the forum earlier, we told him we are going to support him as a forum and also take him to Mr. President to campaign for him to be given any support he needs to succeed.”