* Blockade costing $22 mln a day, quarter of Nigeria budget
* Maritime security agency says NLNG owes $158 mln levies
By Tim Cocks and Oleg Vukmanovic
LAGOS/LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Nigeria's liquefied naturalgas company (NLNG) is expecting a ruling on Friday on a taxdispute with the maritime security agency, whose blockade of itsships has cost $22 million a day for the past two weeks,according to an economist's estimate.
Since June 21, the Nigerian Maritime Administration andSafety Agency (NIMASA) has barred LNG cargoes from entering orleaving the loading bay because it says NLNG is not paying a 3percent levy, from which the NLNG argues it is exempt.
They were in court on Friday to try to resolve the dispute,both over the lawfulness of the blockade and the levies.
"There is a court session today, we are hoping they willrule one way or another," NLNG spokesman Kudo Ereia-Eke said bytelephone.
"By the end of the sitting today, we should be able to knowthe court's position: whether they ask NIMASA to lift theblockade, and we hope also on the levies themselves."
Nigeria's state oil firm owns 49 percent of NLNG with Shell holding 25.6 percent, Total 15 percent andEni 10.4 percent.
LNG accounted for 9 percent of Nigeria's exports in 2012,said economist Bismarck Rewane, CEO of Lagos-based consultancyFinancial Derivatives, or roughly $8.1 billion a year, a quarterof Nigeria's federal fiscal budget for 2013.
"That's about $155 million a week, of which 51 percentbelongs to the Nigerian government," he said. "That is a lot ofmoney to the Finance Ministry."
NLNG declared force majeure on gas exports on June 28 because of the blockade.
Ereia-Eke declined to give figures for NLNG losses, andFinance Ministry officials were not immediately available.
NIMASA spokesman Isichei Osamgbi said the agency was seekingcumulative levies of $158 million.
"Our business is not to cause any crisis to the gas sector.We just insist on our dues. Why shouldn't they pay the leviesthat are applicable to anybody?" he said.
NLNG argues that the act that established it makes itexempt, but Osamgbi said the exemptions expired after the firstyear of profit, following a 5-year holiday.
A shipping source said NIMASA already charges LNG tankers$600,000 per berth to load at the NLNG bay, four times higherthan the average among the highest fees of any LNG port.
NLNG says a court order was issued on June 18 preventingNIMASA from blockading the port until a resolution was found,but the maritime agency denies that.
Buyers of Nigeria's LNG include Spain's Repsol,Italy's Enel, Britain's BG Group France's GDFSuez and Portugal's Galp.
"Customers of NLNG in Europe and Asia are starting to gointo panic mode," a trading source told Reuters.
