A new report has revealed how vandalism has negatively impacted the operations of NLNG Limited at its Bonny Island facility, dragging down natural gas supplies by 80 per cent.
The report by Bloomberg also noted that the needed gas supply has dropped by 80 per cent, leaving a meagre 20 per cent of the company’s needs being met by the few available facilities.
Vandalism and sabotage have curtailed operations at the plant and curbed exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG.
The revelation comes on the heels of a disclosure by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Philip Mshelbila at the Nigeria International Energy Summit in Abuja last week, where he said that only two of the facility’s six processing units are currently functional, and three gas pipelines are down.
According to him, its operations have been impacted by persistent attacks on its pipelines by vandals.
The report noted that the declining output from Nigeria’s only LNG facility could trigger higher spot prices as global supply to Asia and Europe tightens.
In 2024, almost half of Nigeria’s LNG exports went to Asia, with another third going to Europe and the remaining to the Americas and Middle East, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Nigeria’s LNG exports declined by 40 per cent in February from the previous month, following the destruction of vital pipelines by suspected vandals, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Consequently, planned shipments for next month were delayed for at least 10 days. Shell Plc. is one of the stakeholders in Nigeria LNG, along with Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., TotalEnergies and Eni.
Last Wednesday, a London court ordered Nigeria LNG to pay $380m in compensation to two commodity traders – Vitol and Glencore – for failing to deliver contracted cargoes.
A spokesperson for Shell did not immediately respond for comment.
Also, a spokesperson for Nigeria LNG did not immediately respond for comment on the reduction in gas supply.
Nigeria LNG was incorporated as a limited liability company to harness Nigeria’s vast natural gas resources and produce Liquefied Natural Gas and Natural Gas Liquids for the domestic market and export.
