In line with his campaign promise to continuously attract investments to Bayelsa State, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has swiftly moved to actualise the $20 billion Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project located in Brass.
In an interaction with the Chairman, Board of Directors of the Brass LNG project, Dr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, in Lagos on Tuesday, Governor  Dickson declared the total commitment of the government and good people of Bayelsa State to bring the project to fruition in the shortest possible time.
The governor said the government will do everything possible to ensure the project stays on course.  As part of his commitment to the project, Dickson said Bayelsa State government had already allotted an office space to Brass LNG at the Investment Towers in Yenagoa to facilitate the sharing of investable information.
Aside opening up the state and boosting its economy, Governor Dickson said the Brass LNG project, when completed, will also help to quicken his government’s vision of “taking Bayelsa State to the world and bringing the world to Bayelsa State!”       “I am passionate about the Brass LNG project, because it will boost the Bayelsa economy and the Niger Delta in general, by creating  jobs for over 18,000 people at the peak of construction alone. The project also has licences for seaport, airport and free trade zone. The provision of job opportunities will engender development in the region, reduce youth restiveness, crime and above all, build peace among communities. The multiplier effect of all of these is that the Brass LNG project will complement our vision of taking Bayelsa State to the world and bringing the world to Bayelsa State,” Dickson said. A statement signed on Tuesday by the Commissioner for  Trade, Industry and Investment, Kemela Okara, noted that  the governor promised to partner the Federal Government to create the enabling environment and provide the needed political will for the successful take-off of the project within the shortest possible time.
The project was initiated in December 2003, and has NNPC, ENI and Total as shareholders. One of the founding shareholders, Conoco-Phillips, divested its shares in 2014, due to a global rationalisation of its investment in Africa. The project has the capacity of producing about eight million metric tonnes of LNG of two trains per annum.