A bid to harness Nigerian abundant gas reserves through numerous gas utilization projects such as the UTM Floating Liquefied Natural Gas project is gradually taken a critical center stage in the global gas investment space spurs by the Nigeria relentless commitment to commercialize her offshore stranded gas to economic oriented product.
At forefront of this viable economic venture is the Group Managing Director, of UTM Offshore Limited Mr. Julius Rone and the promoter of Nigeria’s first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility which its First Investment Decision is expected be signed in few months’ time.
Disclosing this milestone expectation at the Africa Energy Week AEW 2025, recently held in South Africa, during a discussion on monetizing African gas sponsored by Perenco, UTM Offshore Managing Director Julius Rone emphasized that LNG demand remains robust, but the missing piece is financing.
“Investment is required. The market is there. LNG is not going anywhere – global gas demand is increasing every year. Therefore, we need the right investors to enable us to monetize our gas.” Mr. Rone asserted
The $5 billion UTM FLNG project offshore Nigeria is currently in its pre-construction phase. Rone emphasized that indigenous players like UTM Offshore are capable of forming the right partnerships to drive development, with plans to take FID in the coming months, move into the construction phase and expand the company’s FLNG technologies beyond Nigeria into other African markets.
The target completion date of the FLNG project is 2028 and it hopes to contribute about 450,000 tonnes of liquified petroleum gas (LPG), otherwise known as cooking gas per annum to the domestic market. This will assuage Nigeria’s average demand of about 1.5 million tonnes of LPG per annum and reduce the dependence on the importation of LPG.
UTM is a 100 percent indigenous company, and the floating LNG project will optimise Nigeria’s stranded gas offshore, enhance energy transition, promote domestic consumption of cooking gas, and aid technology transfer, among other benefits.
The project’s target total production is 2.72 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), with LNG accounting for 1.81 MTPA, LPG taking up 0.45 MTPA, and condensate making up 0.25 MTPA.
