Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (NLNG), a joint venture
\nbetween the government and foreign oil majors, has paid a handsome
\n$1.6billion dividend to the new Muhammadu Buhari government. the company\u2019s
\nChief executive, Babs Omotowa disclosed weekend.<\/p>\n
Omotowa said since 1999, NLNG had generated some 85 billion dollars from
\nexports since its inception 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
He said the company, which was set up to harness Nigeria\u2019s vast natural
\ngas resources and produce liquefied natural gas for export, has also paid
\nbillions of dollars to the state in tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a few days ago, we paid 1.6 billion dollars to the government as tax
\nand this will go a long way to assist the new government in solving some
\nof its problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who became the first
\nNigerian to oust a sitting president in democratic elections in March, is
\nfacing a severe economic crunch.<\/p>\n
About 20 of the country\u2019s 36 states are unable to pay workers salaries.
\nOmotowa said the company had paid 30 billion dollars in dividends to its
\nshareholders over the years, including the government, which owns a
\n49-per-cent stake through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
\n(NNPC).<\/p>\n
NLNG\u2019s other shareholders are Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell, which owns 25.6
\npercent, Total LNG Nigeria, a subsidiary of French oil giant Total which
\nowns 15 percent, and Italy\u2019s Eni, which has 10.4 percent.<\/p>\n
Omotowa said plans were afoot to expand the NLNG plant in Finima on Bonny
\nisland, in the oil and gas-rich southern Rivers state, by 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith six trains (production units) currently operational, plans for
\nbuilding Train 7 that will lift the total production capacity to 30
\nmillion metric tons per annum of LNG are currently progressing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said Train 7 would cost an estimated 12 billion dollars, create 18,000
\nconstruction jobs and bring in an additional three billion dollars in
\nexports when operational.<\/p>\n
Nigeria currently exports 22 million metric tons of LNG, making it the
\nworld\u2019s fourth largest LNG exporter.<\/p>\n
Liquefied natural gas, which is created by cooling natural gas and
\ntransforming into liquid for transport on tankers, represents around nine
\npercent of global gas demand.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (NLNG), a joint venture between the government and foreign oil majors, has paid a handsome $1.6billion dividend to the new Muhammadu Buhari government. the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n