Plans are in top gear for the establishment of the first methanol processing plant in the country with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) signing a final investment decision with partners.
The plant is expected to boost the country’s effort to grow domestic gas production.
The plant, which will be located in Brass in Bayelsa State, will be jointly owned by NNPC, the Nigerian Local Content Management Board and indigenous engineering company DVS Engineering Limited.
According to report, Shell, will provide gas feedstock for the plant.
The plant, which is expected to be completed in 2024, will create 30,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction and about 5,000 jobs during operation, according to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva.
The Minister said the $3 billion plant will process about 14 tcf of gas from oil fields scattered around the Niger Delta’s Brass area.
It is the latest effort to harness gas that had previously been flared.
The Federal Government had in December launched a gas processing plant to be fed by previously flared gas from oil fields owned by the NNPC, aimed at producing LPG and CNG for distribution across the country.
Nigeria currently imports 100 per cent of the methanol it uses, according to the minister.
