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By Ekaterina Kravtsova
LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Nigeria LNG said on Wednesday it
had moved closer to an investment decision on the long-awaited
Train 7 project to expand its liquefied natural gas plant on
Bonny Island.
The company said in a statement it had signed a letter of
intent for the engineering, procurement and construction of
Train 7, one of the key milestones towards a final investment
decision (FID).
The letter was signed with a consortium consisting of
Italy's Saipem SPMI.MI , Japan's Chiyoda 6366.T and South
Korea's Daewoo DC.UL .
NLNG said it had also submitted earlier this month the
evaluation of commercial bids for Train 7 to the Nigerian
government, another step for the project to be approved.
"The Project will form part of the investment of over $10
billion including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain,
thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
profile of Nigeria," the statement said.
NLNG said the construction period after FID will last
approximately four to five years.
The project that is expected to increase Nigeria's LNG
production by 35% to 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) has been
delayed for several years.
A previous deadline for a Train 7 FID in the fourth quarter
of 2018 was not met.
Nigeria was fifth largest LNG producer in the world last
year, with its production declining. It lost its fourth place to
the United States in 2018, according to the International Group
of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers.
This year has seen a surge in financial approvals of LNG
production projects, with a total of 62.8 mtpa capacity
receiving final approvals. This is jump from 21 mtpa capacity
approved last year and just 3.4 mtpa in 2017.