Julius Rone is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UTM Offshore, a company spearheading the development of Nigeria’s inaugural floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility. A few months ago, the mass media was awash with reports of his giant strides in the oil and gas sector of the country’s economy, with the unlocking of a new era of LNG industry growth in Nigeria and across the region as the energy demand continues to increase.
This ambitious project marks a significant milestone in Nigeria’s quest to enhance energy infrastructure and solidify its position as a key player in the global LNG market.
Rone, a seasoned administrator and Industrialist with cast experience spanning over a decade in both the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy, he is undoubtedly a major player in the oil and gas space.
He had worked as a Protocol Assistant at the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) from 1995 to 2000 and between the year 2000 to 2008 he worked with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as Protocol Assistant to the Chairman.
From 2008 till date, he has been the Group Managing Director of UTM Group of Companies. It would be recalled that, he came on board as Charge De’ Affairs of the UTM Group of companies, viz: UTM Offshore Limited; UTM FLNG Limited; UTM Energy Limited.
Also, he worked with UTM Dredging Limited; UTM Engineering and Construction Limited: UTM Properties Limited; UTM Logistics and Marine Services Limited; MWS Allied Services Limited; Water Petroleum Limited; SBM Limited; UTM Ghana Limited; and UTM-CTK Ghana Limited.
In 1986, Rone had his First School Leaving Certificate from Mowoe Primary School, Warri, Delta State. He then proceeded to Uwang,ue College, Warri, where he obtained his Senior School Leaving Certificate in 1992.
He is an Alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile – Ife and the University of Calabar, where he attained his Advanced Diploma and Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration respectively.
Rone is a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD), American Society of Administrative Professionals (ASAP), American Management Association (AMA), International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) USA, Association of Associate Executives (AAE) among others.
Going back memory lane, he was born on June 25, 1968 into the family of Chief S. S. Rone, the Obazuaye of Warri Kingdom.
Still on his oil and gas business, it is pertinent to note that, UTM Offshore, State-owned oil company Nigerian National Petroleum (NNPC) entered heads of agreement with UTM Offshore to purchase a 20 percent equity stake in the project in July 2023.
In December 2023, UTM Offshore, the Delta State Government, and NNPCL signed a shareholder agreement to jointly develop the project.
The project will be owned by UTM FLNG (72 percent), a special-purpose vehicle formed for the development of the project by UTM Offshore, NNPC (20 percent) and Delta State Government (8percent).
It is expected to produce 1.5 million tonnes per annum of liquified natural gas (LNG) for export markets and 300,000 tonnes of LPG a year for domestic consumption and some quantities of condensate.
For the purpose of appreciating the magnitude of the project, The UTM FLNG facility is being developed at the Yoho field at a water depth of 64m. The Yoho field is situated within oil mining lease (OML) 104, approximately 60km from shore. It is owned by ExxonMobil (40percent, operator) and NNPC (60 percent) and commenced production in 2003.
The project is expected to have access to use 2.2 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves from OML 104 for 20 years.
UTM Offshore obtained the license to establish the FLNG project from the Department of Petroleum Resources in February 2021. The project is planned to be developed in two phases.
The FLNG facility will include a turret and mooring system, gas pretreatment modules, LNG production modules, accommodation facility, self-contained power generation, and utilities, as well as provision for LNG storage and offloading.
The LPG produced from the FLNG will be supplied to the domestic market and the LNG produced will be offloaded into LNG carriers for further transportation, while Vitol Gas, an energy and commodities company, is a potential LNG buyer for the project.
In the area of financing the project, UTM Offshore entered a memorandum of understanding with African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a pan-African multilateral financial institution, to serve as the lead financier of the project in December 2021.
Subsequently, Afreximbank raised $2bn for the first phase of development, with a commitment of $3bn for phase two.
Regarding the Contractors involved,
JGC Holdings, an Engineering design, procurement and construction company, along with Technip Energies, an energy technology company, and Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a technology company, were contracted to provide the front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for the project in November 2022.
JGC will oversee the topside LNG production facilities design, while Technip Energies will be responsible for the hull and the mooring system design.
JGC was previously contracted to perform the pre-FEED design for the FLNG facility in May 2021. KBR served as the owner’s engineer and conducted a due diligence review of the pre-FEED design. Yahaska Energy, a consulting company, provided overall project development management services.
Richflood International was chosen to perform an environmental and social impact assessment for the project in July 2022, while Templars, a law company, acted as project counsellor in securing the license for the development of the project.
