NLNG: No Plans for Force Majeure

The Nigeria LNG joint venture has said that a February 22 gas transmission pipeline explosion 3km from Rumuji in Rivers State will not affect its operations and that it has not declared force majeure.

An NLNG press statement at the time said that investigations were ongoing into the root cause of the blast.

NLNG’s head of external relations Kudo Eresia-Eke told NGW March 1: “Following the explosion, we can confirm that gas supply is not impacted and NLNG operations are continuing as normal. We are also not considering declaring a force majeure either now or in the future.”

There had been no direct impact on NLNG’s production and exports, he added.

Although no lives were reported lost, gas pipeline explosions are one of the many challenges resulting in gas supply disruptions in Nigeria. Even though the NLNG gas pipe explosion has not been linked to vandalism, this cannot be ruled out given past activities of the Niger Delta militants.

Experts have suggested in the past that Nigeria’s gas pipelines should be protected by military personnel as well as by modern technology for round-the-clock pipeline infrastructure surveillance.

Nigeria LNG's board of directors (Photo credit: NLNG)

Rumuji is 50km north of NLNG's complex on Bonny Island; the venture's statement last week said the explosion occurred "on a section of the right of way housing two gas pipelines, one of which belongs to NLNG." State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation owns 49% of NLNG, followed by Shell with 25.6%, Total 15% and Eni 10.4%. NLNG has capacity to export 22mn metric tons of LNG and 5mn mt/yr of LPGs annually from its six trains.

Omono Okonkwo