Greenville begins $500m LNG plant to bridge power deficit

Greenville Oil and Gas Limited, has started construction of a $500 million Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Plant to bridge the power deficit in the country.

Speaking at the inauguration which held in Rumuji, Rivers State recently, Managing Director of the company, Ritu Sahajwalla, said the inauguration of the LNG plant would help address the unequilibirum in the country’s power sector.

She explained that a lot of stranded power which ought to get to the end users could not be utilized because the pipelines to convey gas to some of the power plants are either not in existence or dysfunctional.

He said such stranded power are available in West, North and Eastern parts of the country, assuring that LNG produced by Greenville would help address this lacuna.

And to achieve the initiative, she said Greenville has procured about 100 trucks which would convey produced LNG from its plants to power plants across the country and to other end users in need of the product.

The MD disclosed that each LNG truck has the capacity to generate about five mega watts of electricity which would go a long way in addressing power deficit.

She regretted that most companies in the North, especially those operating in the textile sector have been forces to move their operations to the Southern part of the country as a result of shortage in electricity supply.

‘‘Image the poor economics of scale involved in the movement of cotton from Kaduna to Lekki in Lagos. So we keep on creating the unequilibirum and I don’t think anyone is noticing that. We are able to notice that because we are talking to those concerned and they have expressed their frustrations to us,’’.

Sahajwalla, noted that the Greenville LNG initiative would have a lot of ripple effects on the economy, saying that it would create thousands of jobs and save the country million of dollars on Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) imports.

She advised Government to take conscious efforts in ensuring that policies that would help grow the LNG sector and gradually shift away from the use of dirty fuel which is injurious to health are being put in place.

Speaking earlier, Chairman of the Company, Mr. Eddy van den Broeke, said the inauguration marks the first phase of the LNG plant with a daily production capacity of 2,250 tons and 750 million tons per year

 Van den Broeke, who described the capacity as smaller when compared to the Nigeria LNG plant in Bonny Island, Rivers State, however, noted that the project is relevant on the general scale and should be considered a revolution in the industry, especially with the operational environment.

The Greenville boss however, expressed his disappointment on government’s attitude towards foreign investors saying, “when you bring your money to invest in Nigeria, you are on your own because no one helps you, not even Government agencies and that is a major setback for investors,’’ he lamented.

The project, he explained was delayed for two years because of financial challenges and the harsh business environment which he said is an indicator that foreign investments have not enjoyed the support of government, most especially in the industry as oil and gas sector.