Nigeria's total Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) output will hit a record 52 million metric tones per annum (52MPTA) by 2009, Edmund Daukoru, Minister of state for Petroleum Resources has said.

The Minister who disclosed this recently explained that the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)experiment spearheaded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation {NNPC} has been successfully pushing the LNG to Europe, while its first cargo to the United States of America was recorded in January this year.

According to him, "shipment to the United States is expected to increase with the addition of a sixth train which will increase the annual output to 22mtpa is in response to the ever increasing global energy demand that the two additional LNG projects namely Brass LNG and Olokola LNG were launched. These two LNG projects will be fully operational from 2009".

The minister said the 22mtpa capacity of the NLNG will combine with the 30 mtpa output of the Brass LNG to push national output to 52 mtpa by 2009.

He also spoke on the gas monetization projects of the Federal Government saying that the development has brought about other projects utilizing gas to produce energy based derivatives such as the 34,000 barrels per day Escravos Gas to Liquids (EGTL) and the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) projects 1 and 2 operated by Chevron Nigeria Limited and Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited respectively.

He further charged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the operators in the sector to channel more investments and needed technology in the current quest to develop the nation's vast gas resources.

He explained that the development will boost the optimization of the nation's share and global competitiveness in the high gas export market. According to him,the era of seaching for oil alone has been displaced by oil and gas exploration for maximum economic benefits for the nation.