Shell signs Gas Supply Agreement for Aba Power Project

Mon, Dec 3, 2018 | By publisher


Oil & Gas

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, SPDC, and its joint partners have signed a gas supply and aggregation agreement that will support the 140 Megawatts Aba Integrated Power Project in Abia State. The agreement, signed on Friday in Abuja, was between SPDC, Geometric Power Aba Limited, GPAL; and Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria, GACN.

By the agreement, SPDC will supply gas from the SPDC joint venture gas plant in Imo River traversing Abia and Rivers States to the power producer, Geometric Power Aba Limited, GPAL, via a gas pipeline network which is already installed.

“This is a further demonstration of our commitment to supporting Nigeria’s industrialisation through gas,” said  Osagie Okunbor, the managing director of SPDC and country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeri.

Okunbor, who was represented by SPDC’s General Manager, Business and Government Relations, Bashir Bello, noted: “For more than 50 years, Shell has been in the forefront of the campaign to develop and monetise Nigeria’s huge gas resources and it is good to see more players joining the fray to grow the gas market and help improve lives and the earnings in Nigeria.”

At the agreement-signing ceremony, Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, described the Aba Independent Power Project as a potential catalyst for opening up the Aba market for economic growth.

Represented by Tim Okon, his Special Adviser on Fiscal Strategy, the minister said the government was determined to ensure commercial sustainability of any such project with the potential to grow the gas market.

Prof. Barth Nnaji, chief executive officer of GPAL, said the project was structured to incentivise gas suppliers to invest in gas production for the domestic market, adding: “We are confident that the structure will serve as a model for other gas-to-power-projects in Nigeria.”

Morgan Okwoche, the managing director of GACN, who signed on behalf of the company described the project as the foremost private off-grid gas supply and aggregation agreement that would enhance industrial growth and economic development.

Those who witnessed the signing ceremony included Muazu Awaisu, the general manager Petroleum, Engineering of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation,  who represented Maikanti Baru, the group managing director of NNPC; and Yemi Famori, general manager Gas Portfolio of SPDC.

The SPDC JV owns the 650MW Afam VI power plant in Afam, River State which in 2017 supplied 15 percent of Nigeria’s grid-connected electricity.

– Dec. 3, 2018 @ 11:42 GMT |

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