Italy's Eni signs up for 1.5 million mt/year of LNG from Nigeria LNG

London — Italy's Eni said Monday it has signed a new long-term contract for the purchase of 1.5 million mt/year of LNG from the Nigeria LNG (NLNG) project, less than a week after France's Total also agreed a new 1.5 million mt/year deal.

The LNG under both deals will be produced from the existing Trains 1, 2 and 3 of the NLNG facility at Bonny Island.

NLNG last year began remarketing LNG volumes from the first three trains as initial sales contracts with key buyers including Turkey's Botas and Portugal's Energia expire this year and next.

Eni already signed up for 1.1 million mt/year last December, while global trader Vitol also agreed late last year a 10-year deal for 0.5 million mt/year.

NLNG -- a joint venture between state-owned NNPC (49%), Shell (25.6%), Total (15%) and Eni (10.4%) -- currently has a production capacity of some 22.5 million mt/year, but plans to increase it to 30 million mt/year with the addition of a seventh train.

The shareholders in NNPC made the final investment decision for Train 7 in December last year.

Eni said the two deals with NLNG would allow it, from 2021, to "increase its global LNG portfolio and to support further the development of its presence in the main destination markets worldwide."