Lagos (Platts)--20Feb2013/556 am EST/1056 GMT

Nigeria's liquefied natural gas exports to the US are in steep decline due to increasing US shale gas production, state oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation data showed late Tuesday, as the OPEC member comes under pressure from rising domestic crude production in the US.

"In 2011, Nigeria exported just 2.3 Tcf, representing 1% of total LNG exports to the US, compared with about 12% in 2007," NNPC said in the report. Nigeria exported 95 Tcf of LNG to the US in 2007, according to the report.

Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, exports LNG from its six train 22 million mt/year Bonny Plant and plans to raise output to 30 million mt/year by adding a seventh train.

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However, the new NNPC data projects Nigeria's LNG exports to shrink further given the steady increase in shale gas' share of total US gas supply from 8% in 2007 to 32% in 2011 and to the US becoming a net exporter of natural gas this year.

NNPC said that while Nigeria was estimated to have 600 Tcf of proven shale gas reserves, it faces a tough challenge attracting the investment needed to bring the gas to production.

Nigeria's oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke warned earlier Tuesday that US shale oil and the increase in US gas production was already affecting Nigeria's oil exports to the US, a major importer of Nigeria's oil.

--Staff, newsdesk@platts.com

--Edited by Wendy Wells, wendy_wells@platts.com

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