Shell attains milestone in gas output

The Shell Petroleum Development Company, operator of the NNPC–Shell Joint Venture, has announced a record gas output from its western Niger Delta operations.

The Joint Venture produced a total of 512 million standard cubic feet of gas (MMscf/d) on Wednesday, November 18. The output level is the highest in two years from the area. Prior to this development, gas output from Shell’s Western operations had averaged about 300MMscf/d.

The record gas output was achieved from four Shell operated Joint Venture gas plants located in Delta State. They are the Utorogu gas plant, which was attacked during the offensive by the militants, the Oben, Sapele and Ughelli East gas plants. The Sapele and Oben plants had been shut in since late last year because of attacks on the pipeline infrastructure. With the repair of the pipelines this year, the two gas plants have since resumed production.

The company says the gas will go into the domestic gas network for national power generation and to the manufacturing industries.

“This latest achievement consolidates our position as Nigeria’s leading gas producer,” said Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of Shell. “What is more, this has been done safely, without harm to people and the environment. We are pleased that all the gas has been used for domestic power generation and manufacturing, as these are key sectors for national economic growth.”

More to come

Over the past few years, the Shell Joint Venture has been producing an average of two-third of Nigeria’s total domestic gas output, which is used mainly for power generation.

In October 2008, the Shell-operated Joint Venture brought on stream the 240MMscf/d capacity Okoloma Gas Plant in Rivers State, Eastern Niger Delta. The plant has been supplying gas to the Afam power plants.

With the Gbaran-Ubie oil and gas project set for commissioning as from next year, Shell’s current gas output could double within a year. The multibillion dollar Gbaran project will have 18 gas wells and a central processing facility in its first phase to harness the gas. The processing facility will deliver 100 MMscf/d to the 225MW Gbarain National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), and the Bayelsa State power plant at Imiringi. At peak production, it will produce one billion standard cubic feet of gas per day.

Reaping the gains of peace

Shell’s operations have suffered the most from militant attacks in Niger Delta. In June, an attack on the Escravos-Lagos pipeline system which feeds the Egbin Thermal station, led to a 40 per cent drop in power generation output across the nation. But with peace now being restored in the erstwhile volatile oil-rich region, companies have been able to carry out repairs on oil and gas infrastructure that were sabotaged.

At the Utorogu gas plant, the NNPC-Shell Joint Venture executed engineering and production optimisation activities. This included capacity upgrade and focused gas wells deliverability tests which enabled the facility to increase output and improve gas quality.

Chidube Nnene-Anochie, Shell’s operations manager, Land West, said; “This feat was achieved through integrated efforts of Operations/Maintenance and multi-disciplinary support teams which included Development, Wells, Engineering, HSE, Finance, Contracting, and Pipelines…and we are all committed to sustaining the tempo.”