Nigeria LNG Inks Train 7 EPC Contracts

Nigeria LNG has awarded a group of engineering companies the contracts for engineering, procurement and construction for its seventh train: Italy's Saipem, Japan's Chiyoda and Korean Daewoo have picked up the contracts, as a joint venture, of which Saipem owns 60%.

Saipem said its share was about $2.7bn, implying a total value of $4.5bn. The three firms signed a letter of intent last September and the final investment decision was taken late in the year.

Nigeria LNG is owned by state Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Anglo-Dutch Shell, French Total and Italian Eni. The work entails building one complete LNG train and one additional liquefaction unit with a total capacity of about 8mn metric tons/yr, plus other extensive associated utilities and infrastructures. The total nameplate output of the terminal would increase to about 30mn mt/yr.

CEO Stefano Cao said that the company had been in Nigeria for over 50 years and the contract "confirms our ability to build solid relationships, qualifying Saipem as a global company." It said the contracts demonstrate "that natural gas, in whose value chain Saipem has a recognised leadership, will be pivotal to the energy transition. The award of this contract contributes to increase the portion of non-oil-related backlog and confirms the overcoming of the link between Saipem’s share value and oil price.”