The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote, has hinted that government was taking necessary steps to ensure that the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works for the multi-billion dollar Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited Train 7 project are executed mostly by indigenous companies.

Wabote, who gave this hint at a public workshop organized to discuss opportunities for the Nigerian content aspect of the NLNG Train 7 plant, pointed out that government would not be kindly disposed to getting such big projects built in modules by foreign companies and shipped to the country for coupling.

According to him, the new approach being considered by the government is to use the success of the Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil platform built by Total to appraise new projects with a view to determining their costs and benefit if they are handled by local firms.

He expatiated: “I know how we insist on some of these local content requirements (from the international oil companies (IOCs). If you leave them alone, they will build this Train 7 in modules and then ship them from England or Netherlands and then take them straight to Bonny and couple them. That is not going to happen. We are going to build the Train 7 in-country because we have the capacity.”

He expressed the board’s confidence that the NLNG Train 7 plant would come on stream timely unlike oil and gas projects that had been in the pipeline for several years without execution

In his remarks at the forum, NLNG’s Managing Director, Mr Tony Attah, said that the company’s planned Train 7 project would increase the plant production output by 35 percent from 22 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 30 MTPA and also increase the nation’s foreign direct investments (FDIs).

The NLNG is described by experts as one of Nigeria’s most successful corporate organizations with equity structure of the Federal Government, represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) totalling 49 percent; Shell – 25.6 percent; Total- 15 percent and Eni – 10.4 per cent.

The company announced recently it was shopping for $7 billion for the construction of an extra gas processing facility and investment in upstream gas production which will ensure sustainable supply of feed gas to its existing Trains 1 to 6 and the new train.

It projected the fourth quarter of this year as the Final Investment Decision (FID) date for the new train.