Oil firms to divert more gas to Nigeria -president

By Nick Tattersall

LAGOS, May 30 (Reuters) - Foreign oil firms will divert a greater proportion of their natural gas output in Nigeria for domestic use over the coming years as the country tries to end a crippling power crisis, President Umaru Yar'Adua said.

In a interview on state television late on Thursday, Yar'Adua said foreign companies had agreed to help meet rising domestic demand by increasing each year the amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) they diverted to the West African country.

"We have agreed with the international oil companies that between now and 2009 they must provide a certain percentage, each company, of their gas for domestic use," he said.

"From 2009-2010 they must also increase the percentage, from 2010-2011 and so on up to 2015," he said in an interview marking the first anniversary of his inauguration.

Nigeria's largest LNG export plant, located on Bonny Island in the southern Niger Delta, is controlled by a group of Western companies -- Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) end Eni unit Agip (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research).

State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. owns 49 percent.

LNG is gas cooled to liquid form and shipped in special tankers to markets in the developed world where it can be used for power generation or making chemicals.

Nigeria's government has said it wants to boost economic growth by generating much more power with gas, which unless more gas production facilities are built could lead to a shortfall in gas available for export and further tighten global supplies.