A series of force majeure events have been declared by oil & gas operators in the Niger Delta, leading Nigeria LNG to declare its own force majeure on product supplies from the Bonny Island LNG terminal, the company has said today. Nigeria LNG is owned by NNPC (49%), Shell Gas B.V. (25.6%), Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France (15%), and Eni International (10.4%).
The company has revealed that all its upstream gas suppliers have declared force majeure following their inability to produce gas due to ravaging floods that have already displaced millions in the Niger Delta. The shut-in of gas production has caused significant disruption of gas supply to Nigeria LNG, forcing the LNG exporter to operate at limited capacity.
Nigeria LNG operates six LNG trains on Bonny Island with a capacity of 22.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). LNG represents on average almost 10% of Nigeria’s export earnings, data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows. In addition to supplying LNG to global markets, the company is also the biggest domestic supplier of cooking gas to the Nigerian market.
Most of Nigeria’s LNG is exported to Europe and Asia, with key European markets such as France, Spain, and Portugal amongst its largest buyers.