–By Teddy Nwanunobi
Barring any last minute change, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited will, on Tuesday, August 31, have a new boss, in the person of Dr. Philip Mshelbila, who will replace Engr. Tony Attah, who would have stepped out on Monday, August 30 – the expiration of his five-year tenure at the helm of affairs as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO). Mshelbila, who will be stepping into Attah’s shoes at the NLNG, will be leaving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad & Tobago, after completing a successful three-year term at Atlantic.
According to a statement signed by the Nigeria LNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Eyono Fatayi-Williams, Mshelbila will assume the reins of leadership at the company when Attah’s tenure ends.
The statement said the Nigeria LNG’s Board of Directors approved Mshelbila’s appointment as successor to Attah at its last board meeting.
“Engr. Attah will return to his parent company, Shell, on 30th August 2021 at the expiration of his five-year tenure at the helm of affairs. Attah was appointed Chief Executive Officer by the NLNG Board in July 2016. Dr. Mshelbila, who is rounding-off his tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad & Tobago, will be taking over from Attah on 31st August 2021,” it read.
Mshelbila, a trained physician, will be making an upgrade – leaving the 9th largest global LNG producer and exporter for the 6th largest. But with over 20 years of oil and gas experience in board-level governance, stakeholder management, commercial operations, project management, and performance delivery of operational and non-operational joint ventures, Mshelbila, no doubt, a global business leader.
The NLNG is one of the largest single private investments in Africa that is run by a fully Nigerian senior management team. Incorporated as a limited liability company on May 17, 1989, the NLNG is an incorporated Joint-Venture (JV), owned by four shareholders, namely: the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) – 49 per cent, Shell Gas B.V. – 25.6 per cent, Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France – 15 per cent, and Eni International N.A. N.V. S.àr.l – 10.4 per cent.
The NLNG is a major player in the global LNG business. The major aim of the NLNG is to harness Nigeria’s vast natural gas resources, and produce LNG and natural gas liquids (NGL).
Considered as one of the most important economic projects in Nigeria, the NLNG began operations in 1999, when it shipped its first LNG cargo. Since then, the NLNG has brought significant economic benefits to Nigeria.
When, on Monday, March 29, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari announced the ‘Decade of Gas’, Nigeria’s target was aimed at a gas-powered economy by 2030. The Decade of Gas is an initiative that is designed to ensure that Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, can take advantage of the global energy transition.
According to Buhari, the initiative was “a bold statement to demonstrate our administration’s resolve that gas development and utilisation should be a national priority. Now, we’re going a step further to dedicate this decade to industrialising Nigeria using gas”.
The import of the Decade of Gas is to leverage on the huge gas reserves to become, not just a major exporter, but to become a major gas consuming nation.
He said gas has the potential to diversify and uplift the economy, given the country’s potential of about 600 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, and the rising global demand for cleaner energy sources.
He explained that this has offered Nigeria an opportunity to exploit its gas resources for the good of the country.
“We intend to seize this opportunity,” he stressed.
He explained that before the declaration of Year 2020 as “The Year of Gas, this administration had shown commitment to the development of Nigeria’s vast gas resources and strengthening of the gas value chain by reviewing and gazetting policies and regulations to enhance operations in the sector as encapsulated in the National Gas Policy of 2017.
“Our major objective for the gas sector is to transform Nigeria into an industrialised nation with gas playing a major role and we demonstrated this through enhanced accelerated gas revolution”.
Despite the lack of focus on gas development in the past, he said Nigeria has benefited immensely from the resource.
He stated that the NLNG, which contributes about one per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has generated $114 billion in revenues over the years, $9 billion in taxes, $18 billion in dividends to the Federal Government, and $15 billion in feed gas purchase.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said that Nigeria’s enormous gas resource would enable it tackle the energy poverty in the country, to generate electricity and power its industries.
Sylva pointed at the deal to build the $10 billion Train-7 by the shareholders of NLNG, despite the disruption that happened last year, as a pointer to the potentials available in the sector.
The outgoing Managing Director of NLNG, Mr. Tony Attah, stated that Nigeria currently plays a significant role in the global energy sector, holding the position of the largest oil and gas producer in Africa, and the sixth supplier of global LNG, through the operations of the NLNG Limited.
“Our Train 7 project, alone, will attract about $10 billion into the country, with significant revenue generation for government and our shareholders, but also over 12,000 jobs opportunity for Nigerians,” Attah said.
As NLNG’s next CEO, Mshelbila’s ability to maintain dividend payments to the company’s shareholders, especially the Federal Government, through holding shares in the NNPC will be one of his biggest challenges in the coming years. It is expected to be.
Already, expectations are positive that Mshelbila, who comes with a loaded antecedent in Gas Resource Management, having served as Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Gas Ltd; Commercial Manager and Project Development Manager in Shell Gas & Power, and currently Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago, would give verve to the country’s gas ambition.
On the other hand, with an in-depth background in Communications, Community Relations and Sustainable Development, Mshelbila’s arrival is anticipated to help close the gaps in host community relations, for which agitations have been on the rise in recent times with the company gasping for ideas on how to respond adequately.
Mshelbila has served as Shell’s General Manager for Communications in West Africa; General Manager, Sustainable Development and Community Relations for Shell Companies in Nigeria; and Private Assistant to the Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell; Regional (Business) Adviser, Shell International, The Netherlands, and Regional Health Manager, Africa; roles that entailed managing sustainable development and social investment as well as relations with communities, local and state governments in the Niger Delta.
With Nigeria ranked as one of the countries that are most susceptible to the global transition to cleaner fuels, given that oil contributes about half of the government’s revenue and most of its foreign exchange receipts, the Decade of Gas’ initiative reinforces the perception that Nigeria’s largely untapped, natural gas resources has the potential to provide the means for the country to fund its way through the global energy transition.