NLNG to Take Delivery of $1.41billion Vessels For Gas Export

The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG, will this June receive the last of the six new vessels it bought for the transportation of liquefied natural gas, LNG, to different parts of the world.

The NLNG Managing Director, Babs Omotowa, disclosed that five of the six vessels were delivered between November last year and March 2016, stating that the last vessel will be delivered this month, the Nation reports.

According to Omotowa, the acquisition of the new vessels became imperative as LNG cargoes currently delivered to distant destinations across the world increases in response to changing business opportunities.

He said to meet this demand, an arm of the NLNG, the Bonny Gas Transport, in 2013, ordered six new dual fuel diesel engine (DFDE) vessels to be constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), while Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) was ordered to build four.

Financing for the six vessels was arranged in two programmes: a-$310 million six-year additional programme debt (APD) facility and a-$1.1 billion 12-year new vessel debt (NVD) facility, he said.

He noted that the APD was additional indebtedness under 2006 vessel financing arrangement, while the NVD was a fresh facility with several international commercial banks and export credit agencies (ECAs) as lenders.

These lenders include Korean Export-Import Bank (KEXIM) and Korean Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE). The deals were signed on March 26, 2013, he added.