The Cross River State Government is partnering an indigenous firm to berth Africa’s first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) plant in Nigeria as part of its drive for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
The state is to host the onshore operations support base of the over 1.5 million tonne, multi-billion LNG project because of its proximity to the location of the plant for the contractor Messrs JGC Holdings Corporation.
The State Governor, Senator Prince Bassey Otu, disclosed this when he received a delegation of the company at the Government House, Calabar.
The visibly excited governor expressed happiness over the choice of his state by the company as its logistics base and promised the collaboration of his administration in actualising the project.
He pointed out that the state is very rich in terms of hydrocarbons with huge gas resources which his administration intends to fully exploit.
Chief press secretary to the governor, Emmanuel Ogbeche, in a statement quoted the governor to have said: “Providing job opportunities to over 3,000 unemployed in the state is such a huge achievement. If there is anything we are earnestly looking forward to now, it is to provide employment to our teeming youths.
“We seriously need to grow the economy. We have set a target for ourselves with machinery in motion to double our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with attendant increase in internally generated revenue in the next four years.
“So, you are not going to do it only offshore, I believe that by the time our designated blocs are out, you will love to take good advantage by exploring it.”
He assured the company of the safety of its staff and machinery, to enable it to execute the project.
“What we used to worry about in my days in parliament was gas flaring. Apart from us losing money, it is also poisoning the atmosphere which is dangerous to the ecosystem. So, I am happy that your operation is green and we welcome you wholeheartedly to our state.”
Earlier, the Managing Director, UTM (Nig) Limited, Dr. Julius Rone, in company of his Japanese and German partners, disclosed that the delegation were in the state for site assessment for the setting up of an onshore operations support base for its contractor, Messrs JGC Holdings Corporation of Japan, on the UTM Floating LNG Project.
He said the project is the first of its kind in Nigeria and first time such a project is being developed by an indigenous private African company.
According to the MD, FLNG which will be anchored offshore Akwa Ibom, not far from the Yoho Platform in OML 104 being operated by Exxon Mobil, when completed will produce on annual basis, 1.5 million tonnes of LNG for export, 300,000 metric tonnes of LPG for the domestic market and some quantities of condensate.
