Dateline Energy Services Limited has contracted Naval Dockyard Limited to build a 4,000 metric tonnes Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) coastal gas carrier barge.
The contract allows Naval Dockyard Limited to build the LPG coastal gas transportation barge for Dateline Energy Services.
Wilson Opuwei, chief executive officer of Dateline Energy Services, said at the official project kick-off and agreement signing ceremony in Lagos that the company discovered an opportunity around the maritime and gas value chain due to the disconnect between gas production and product evacuation in Nigeria.
He said companies in the gas value chain face the challenges of evacuating their products, especially the ones that would be moved from the processing units where they will be processed from natural gas into LPG.
He said the barge will serve as a carrier of LPG from the production facilities to the storage facilities, and off-take facilities as well as serving as a shuttle that takes gas from smaller vessels to bigger crafts that are located deeper in the coastal water.
Also, Darren Dignam, project partner, said the project will ensure sustainable transportation of LPG gas in Nigeria because, for each of the barges that move products, about 400 trucks would be taken off Nigerian roads.
Earlier, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, chief of Naval Staff, said that the agreement signing marks a significant milestone for the Nigerian Navy, the Naval Dockyard Limited, Dateline Energy Services and indeed Nigeria at large as the construction of the proposed 4,000 metric tonnes LPG coastal gas transportation barge is an indicative of how these institutions and the nation has developed the capacity to indigenise the construction of vessels.
Represented by Rear Admiral Hamza Kaoje, CEO of Navy Holdings, Ogalla said the execution of the gas transport barge project would generate several positive outcomes and spur the growth of Research and Development, indigenous vessel construction and local content development.
