The Nigerian government has extended its support towards Brass Fertiliser and Petrochemical (BFPCL) for the establishment of a new methanol plant that can produce 10,000 tonnes per day. NNPC and Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) have signed an agreement for the new development. The project’s shareholders are NNPC, NCDMB and DSV Engineering.
BFPCL will establish the new plant in Odioma, Brass Island and has offered a 1 percent stake to the local communities. Furthermore, the new plant will generate 30,000 direct or indirect jobs during the construction period.
The plant expects to employ 5,000 people once it is completed. All the project’s partners are expected to complete construction within four years. The equity investors will provide funds worth $670 million for the project and the total cost project for the project is estimated at $3.5 billion.
China Exim Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and few others will provide 70 percent of the cost for the project. Shell will provide the gas in accordance to a purchase agreement. Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva, told the media, “The methanol plant was in line with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to aggregate and monetise “all stranded gas in the Brass area, which amounts to over 10 trillion cubic feet of gas, into the processing facilities to be built in the hub.”
BFPCL is striving to become the best in Africa and compete with its counterparts. The energy segment has been walloped by the pandemic.