The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) has announced it is constructing six new vessels worth $1.6billion with five per cent local content input from an indigenous company.

The NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations, Kudo Eresia-Eke, said the delivery is in six batches each for each ship, adding that the six vessels worth $1.6billion are being constructed by two ship builders, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea.

Eresia-Eke said the six new vessels under construction by HHI and SHI, each with a capacity of 170,000MT, will replace old BGT ships. 

Meanwhile, part of the five per cent local content contract was awarded to Nexans Kabelmetal Nigeria Plc which will export electric cables worth N176million to South Korea for use in the construction of six new vessels procured by Bonny Gas Transport (BGT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG).

The Managing Director, Nexans Kabelmetal, Robert Kretschmer, said the development marks  a significant milestone in the history of the nation.

He said: “It is significant that a company based in Nigeria is exporting finished industrial goods to a technologically advanced country like South Korea. It places a premium on what we do as a company, despite the challenging business environment in Nigeria.

“I must say that Nexans Kabelmetal has a long standing relationship with NLNG, and for us, this is the beginning of a new level in this relationship. We look forward to this generating other business leads from South-Korea and other countries.”

Kretschmer said NLNG’s relationship with Nexans Kabelmetal, dates back to the construction of NLNG’s third train in 2003 when the cable giant was contracted to supply cables for that phase of the NLNG project. “Nexans Kabelmetal has since then fully expanded its product range to produce a type of ship-board cable, approved by Bureau Veritas and Lloyds Register with Marine Certification,” he added.