The Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Brass LNG’s train would be ready by the 4thquarter of year 2012 the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mr Austen Oniwon has said.

This is coming on the heels of the GMD’s assertion that the NNPC  is committed to the successful realization of the Train 7 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Ltd.

Engr Oniwon gave this assurance while receiving the new Managing Director of the NLNG Ltd, Mr Babs Jolayemi Omotowa, who paid a courtesy call on the GMD, at the corporation’s Towers in Abuja recently.

“We believe that like the Brass LNG, the NLNG’s Train 7 is also viable. And we will continue to support its success,” the GMD told the visiting MD.

He stated that the Brass LNG will take its Final Investment Decision (FID) by the 4th Quarter of 2012 and once all the shareholders have committed to carrying out the project, “then we will come back to Train 7.”

He added: “I want to encourage you to continue to do all pre-FID activities at minimum cost so that as soon as we are through with Brass, we can quickly move to Train 7.”

He gave the assurance that henceforth, the NNPC would no longer be a passive partner, but will rather participate fully and that would be seen when Train 7 comes on stream.

According to the GMD, the NLNG is the fastest growing LNG in the world. He urged the new MD to explore the numerous global LNG opportunities especially from Japan, a country which is very hungry for molecules.

He added that if the news about the demise of nuclear power plant energy in Japan were anything to go by, then LNG in Nigeria has a brighter future.

“What is required is for us to come up with initiatives that will make us competitive in the market especially going by our geographical location,” the GMD noted.

He urged the NLNG to consider NIKORMA- an NNPC/Hyundai Consortium Joint Venture Shipping Company- when it comes to the supply of LNG vessels for future needs.

“NIKORMA is ready to participate in the fast-growing LNG market in Nigeria. In the future, we’ll like to see NIKORMA competing with the likes of BGT and others,” he observed.

He later thanked NLNG for being a good training ground for NNPC Staff even as he expressed the willingness of NNPC to collaborate with NLNG on staff development whenever the need arises.

On his part, the new NLNG MD, Mr Babs Omotowa said he was in the NNPC Towers to thank the Corporation for all its support to NLNG and to reiterate its commitment towards moving the nation’s LNG business forward.

He noted that last year was a very successful year for the company because it was the first year it produced, shipped and delivered one cargo a day from the NLNG Plant. “We delivered 330 cargoes last year which was a record for us.”

He added that they have also recorded some progress in the Nigerian Content where its shipping division transferred a bit of knowledge into Nigeria.

“We now do freight management of some of our ships in-country. So, we are making huge strides in the local content parlance.”

From the commercial point of view, Mr Omotowa explained that the NLNG recorded tremendous success too. “Last year we missed the $10b mark by a few millions.”

He pledged to build on the successes and vision of the company as set out by its founding fathers.

“The challenge now is to continue to build on such performance in terms of performance and developing local capability to meet the global standards being set out,” he concluded.

Mr Babs Omotowa succeeded Engr Chima Ibeneche on 31st January, 2012. He is the 2nd Nigerian MD of the company. Until his new appointment, Babs was Vice President, Health, Safety, Environment, Infrastructure and Logistics for Shell companies in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Currently, the NLNG has six trains in operation with an overall capacity of some 22 million tonnes per annum of LNG and 4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LPG. It requires about 3.5 bcf/d feedgas intake at full production.

Already, plans for building Train 7 that will lift the total production capacity to over 30 MTPA LNG, are currently at an advanced stage.

The NLNG has four shareholders namely: NNPC (49%), Shell (25.6%), Total (15%) and Eni (10.4%).