Nigeria LNG restores feedgas pipelines, five trains now operational

The pipelines feeding gas to the 22.2 mtpa Nigeria LNG plant on Bonny Island have been restored following recent acts of sabotage and vandalism, enabling five of the six liquefaction trains at the LNG plant to operate.

Summary:

• Feedgas pipelines restored after sabotage late last month, with five trains now operating.
• Weekly exports dropped from mid-February, halving during the week beginning Feb. 17 from a week earlier.
• February exports down by 39% month-on-month and 34% year-on-year.
• NLNG working with stakeholders to improve security of upstream assets and minimize impact on production and delivery schedules.

NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, told Kpler: “The feedgas pipelines, which were previously offline due to vandalism and sabotage, have been restored.”

“The outage disrupted the plant’s gas supply and operations, but normalcy is returning with five trains now in operation,” she added.

Horsfall did not address when NLNG’s remaining train would be back in operation. Her comments follow reports that four of the plant’s trains were shut down late last month due to a lack of feed gas, caused by pipeline sabotage.

According to Kpler data, weekly exports halved during the week beginning  Feb. 17 to 0.15 mt from a week earlier and were last lower at 0.14 mt during the week beginning Oct. 7, 2024.  Exports eased further to 0.13 mt during the week beginning Feb. 24 and currently stand at 0.08 mt for the week beginning Mar. 3.

Kpler data show NLNG’s February exports fell by about 39% to 0.79 mt from a six-month export high of 1.29 mt in January. They stood at 1.21 mt in February last year. The exports indicate a low utilization rate, given the plant  can  produce about 1.85 mt of LNG a month at nameplate capacity.

Earlier in February, Horsfall told Kpler sabotage and vandalism to pipelines and wells “still  impacts feedgas supplies to NLNG and delivery timelines.”

NLNG is actively assessing the situation to minimise the impact on production and delivery schedules while engaging with key stakeholders and relevant government security agencies to strengthen the security of upstream production and transmission assets, she added. Firms that have offtake from NLNG include Eni, Galp, Naturgy, TotalEnergies, Vitol, Shell, Endesa and Pavilion Energy.

In December last year, the firm’s General Manager of Production Nnamdi Annowi expressed optimism that the plant would be fully supplied with feed gas by the end of 2025, supported by the government’s ongoing security efforts.

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