Shell Begins Gbaran Ubie IOGP Facilities’ Test Run

Nigeria will within the next couple of months record another significant leap in oil and gas development, unitization, utilization, gas flare down, power generation, and efficient environmental management, as Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) begins technical commissioning of the multibillion-dollar Gbaran Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas Project, one of Nigeria’s biggest oil and gas development facilities in the Niger Delta.

Test run of the facility, located some kilometers away from Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, which commenced in the first quarter of this year, has seen the technical certification of the gas dehydration and liquid handling trains, process control and safeguarding systems, utility systems as well as wells and associated flowlines and pipelines.

Briefing some Bayelsa-based bureau chiefs on a guarded tour of the facility last Friday, Project Manager, Okechukwu Elechi, said the liquid disposal and gas transport lines will also be commissioned in a few weeks.

Elechi explained that, “during the technical commissioning, key facilities are tested prior to introducing hydrocarbons to see how they perform”, stressing that since industry practice demands compliance with this phase process, it was only natural that the Shell project follows international best practice before kick-starting operations.

According to him, “complex and extensive facilities like those on the Gbaran Ubie project require phased commissioning, and we plan to run these tests for nine to 12 months” to ensure technical conformity, synchronization and efficiency.

The Tide recalls that when fully operational, the Gbaran Ubie plant has a nameplate capacity to produce one billion standard cubic feet of gas and more than 700,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Tide checks further show that a gas processing facility, with capacity for 80million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMscf/d) has been built near the Central Processing Facility (CPF) to treat and supply gas to power the Federal Government’s National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) now being constructed at Gbaran as well as the Bayelsa State Electricity Board’s plant at Imiringi.

The facility will pump a significant proportion of produced crude oil to the export terminal at Bonny,  with a reserves tank farm of over 60,000 barrels per day, and also provide gas feedstock to Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) facility at Bonny.

Besides, The Tide gathered that the facility will also scoop and absorb currently flared gas at Kolo Creek and Etelebou flowstations into the CPF, triggering gradual shutdown of both gas flowlines and nods, and a drastic reduction in Shell’s overall gas flare profile in the region.   

The project manager recalled that before construction activities commenced at the site some three years ago, strategic environmental impact assessments for different aspects of the project including, processing facilities, wells and flowlines, gas and crude oil export pipelines and logistic base and jetty were conducted, while the host communities were widely consulted to make their inputs on ways to mitigate project impact through scoping workshops, open fora and public display of draft EIAs.

Elechi noted that although the five wells drilled as part of this project at Koroama, Zarama, Kolo Creek and Gbaran have been tested, while additional six drilled at Gbaran and Zarama are yet to be tested, the communities were fully carried along as work progresses.

He explained that “new gas wells are tested after being drilled to confirm their safety and integrity”; just as “the well test fluids are disposed of using temporary flares”, stressing that “we have consulted with our neighbouring communities, who are fully aware of the situation, and received all necessary permits for these”.

The project manager hinted that after commissioning and stabilization, the flare stack at the site will have a small pilot flare to ensure the flare system is always ready for an emergency plant shutdown, which is a normal industry practice, and does not amount to a grand design for new gas flares by SPDC.

Instead, he said, the entire concept and design of the project was meant to reduce gas flaring, mitigate the impact of crude oil exploration and production, and further boost the nation’s quest for efficient energy supply through clean power generation, while maximizing opportunities for increased gas unitization and utilization in the country.                

Nelson Chukwudi