Nigerian Ports Authority to Continue to Support NLNG

The Executive Director Marine & Operations, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Engr. David Omonibeke has assured the Management of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) of the Authority’s continuous efforts to meet all the needs of the company to enhance effective and uninterrupted ship movements in the Bonny.

The Executive Director was speaking during a meeting as part of a one day working tour of the NLNG in Bonny Island by a high – powered NPA Management delegation which he led recently.

Engr. Omonibeke said the working tour was designed to revitalize the cooperation between the two companies within a renewed synergy which would ensure a beneficial working relationship to both parties and the nation at large.

The Executive Director explained that the Authority was aware of the development plan of the NLNG to increase production using trains 7 & 8 and is conscious of the fact that this increase would result in increase in traffic and therefore promised that the Authority shall ensure that the Bonny channel is expanded as the need arises to ensure safety of navigation and protection of the marine environment.

Engr. Omonibeke hinted that an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Authority and the NLNG on the training of pilots soon to be signed, adding that the Pilotage District Board would soon be inaugurated to give impetus to the regulatory functions of the Authority.

While reiterating that the NPA would henceforth fast track all issues to do with the NLNG, to ensure quick action, Engr. Omonibeke commended the company for contributing to the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training programme for the training of the Authority’s pilots over the years as well as for supporting the operations of the Authority in Bonny, which he said is exemplary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) worthy of emulation.

The General Manager, NLNG Shipping Capt. Temilola Fatai Okesanjo, who led the NLNG delegation to the meeting, while commending the NPA for initiating the meeting, praised the present Management of the Authority for resolving some major issues between the two organizations lingering for sometimes now.

Capt. Okesanjo while describing the visit as a new opportunity to improve relation between the two organizations stressed the need not to see the relationship between the two organizations as merely “a service provider and client relationship”; but as a joint effort by the two organizations for the greater growth of the nation in the oil and gas sector.

During the visit, the Executive Director and his entourage under took a guided tour of the 2.27 square kilometers NLNG plant consisting of Gas production line, storage and refrigeration facilities, gas turbine electricity generators, LNG export and passenger’s jetties as well as the residential area.

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LNG World News Staff, April 24, 2013