Nigeria to Take $2 Billion Loan From Japanese Companies to Fund Brass LNG

State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. plans to accept a $2 billion loan from a group led by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to fund its share of a $5 billion liquefied natural-gas project.

NNPC, as the company is known, will cut its stake in the proposed Brass LNG plant in the oil-rich Niger River delta to 30 percent from 49 percent, according to Levi Ajuonuma, a spokesman.

The decision over the financing of the Brass LNG plant followed a meeting with the Japanese companies last month in Abuja, he said. The others involved in arranging the loan include LNG Japan, Itochu Corp. (8001) and Sojitz Corp (2768), Ajuonuma said.

A final investment decision on the plant at Brass in the southeastern Bayelsa state will be taken in the first quarter, Ajuonuma said. Total SA (FP), Eni SpA (ENI) and ConocoPhillips (COP) each have 17 percent stakes in the project.

NNPC has “offered 4 percent and 3 percent to LNG Japan and ITOCHU respectively,” Ajuonuma said. A further 2 percent has been offered to a joint venture between Sahara Group and Sempra Energy. (SRE)

Nigeria has proven natural gas reserves of 187 trillion cubic feet, according to the Petroleum Ministry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dulue Mbachu in Abuja at dmbachu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net