NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday set a target date of 2005 for four US oil companies to start operation of a second liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Abuja. The four companies, ExxonMobil, Texaco Overseas Petroleum Company Unlimited, Chevron and Conoco Energy, undertook a feasibility study for the project earlier this year. In a meeting with executive vice president of Conoco Rob McKee, Obasanjo said the companies should work to start operation of the country’s second LNG project within four years. A first LNG company, Nigeria LNG operated by the state-run oil company NNPC, Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell, Totalfina Elf of France and Agip of Italy, began commercial operations in October 1999. Nigeria, already Africa’s largest oil producer, has massive reserves of natural gas. – AFP