EMEA News
Nigerian Company Looking to Buy Six LNG Carriers for $1.6 Billion
Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) is talking with Samsung Heavy Industries (Samsung) and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) over the purchase of six liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, Reuters reports.
Samsung said it has won an order for four ships, and HHI said it was in talks to sell two more to NLNG, although both South Korean companies said the deals are contingent on financing.
"We are in talks with NLNG but nothing has been finalized yet," said Kim Kwang-kug, an official at HHI.
BNP Paribas of France and GT Bank of Nigeria are brokering a medium- to long-term $1.6 billion loan for the vessels that could be finalised this week, a banking source told Reuters.
NLNG, which is partly owned by Nigerian state oil company NNPC and Royal Dutch Shell, said last year that it would seek funding to expand its shipping subsidiary, Bonny Gas Transport Limited, which currently has 24 LNG ships.
The company buys Nigerian gas and liquefies it for sale through contracts with European buyers and on the spot market.
Andrew Yakubu, group managing director of NNPC, recently said that the Nigerian government is pushing the nation from an oil-based economy to one based on both oil and gas, something he said will generate foreign direct investment and industrialisation, the independent news outlet PM News Nigeria reported.
