GAIL may acquire stake in Nigeria LNG

State-owned GAIL (India) Ltd is among the companies being considered by Nigeria to sell a stake in Nigeria LNG Ltd, in a move that will help the world's second-fastest growing major economy se- cure energy resources.

“The Nigerian foreign minister indicated that the Nigeria LNG was considering to dilute a part of its stake, and GAIL is being considered as one of the parties,“ India's oil ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

GAIL, as part of a consortium, is also in the race to develop Nigeria's national gas master plan and is interested in acquiring equity stakes in the upcoming multi-billion dollar Brass LNG and OK LNG projects that will enable long-term LNG supply, the statement said.
GAIL also wants to participate in petrochemical projects and city gas distribution projects in Nigeria, it said.

“We are examining the opportunities”, said B.C. Tripathi, chairman and managing director of GAIL.

LNG, or liquefied natural gas, is usually transported by ships and needs to be converted into gas before it is used. The total supply of natural gas in India is around 167.8 mil- lion standard cu. m per day (mscmd), including imported LNG, compared with a demand of 220 mscmd. Of this, LNG accounts for around 20%, or 44 mscmd. India imports around 1 million tonnes per annum of LNG bought in the spot markets. The gas avail- ability is projected to be around 202.97 mscmd in 2011-12.

Nigeria's foreign minister Henry Odien Ajumogobia is visiting the country to attend the Indo-Nigeria Joint Com- mission meeting as its co- chairman.

Mint had reported on 3 November about a consortium comprising state-owned GAIL, French oil company Total SA, Thailand's PTT Public Co. Ltd and Sahara Energy Ltd was in the race to develop Nigeria's national gas master plan. Following a change in govern- ment in 2007, Nigeria put in place a new master plan to develop its gas industry. All downstream projects have to conform to the plan.

India's petroleum minister S. Jaipal Reddy also indicated to Nigeria's foreign minis- ter in a meeting that “the annual requirement of Nigerian crude oil would be around 18 million tonnes per annum from 2012-13 onwards”. India imported 13.2 million tonnes of crude oil from Nigeria in the last fiscal year. The bilateral trade between India and Nigeria is expected to touch $12 billion in the current fiscal compared with $8 billion in the last fiscal.

Around 15% of the crude oil imported by India comes from Nigeria. The nation has 36.2 billion barrels of proven oil re- sources and is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It has the second largest hydrocarbon reserves in Africa after Libya.

Nigeria produces 2.7 million barrels of oil per day (mbpd) and aims to raise it to 4 mbpd by 2012. It has an LNG capacity of 22 million tonnes per an- num.

(Source-:mintlive)