SPDC’s Facility Hits Gas Production Milestone

The largest integrated oil and gas facility at Gbaran-Ubie in the Niger Delta has hit a major milestone in the industry by recording a production template of one billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (bscf/d) ahead of schedule.

Located in the oil-rich western fringe of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the Gbaran-Ubie project, initiated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) achieved its first oil and gas in June 2010, with 200million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d).

A statement signed by the Shell Corporate Media Relations Manager, Tony Okonedo, quotes SPDC Managing Director, Mutiu Sunmonu as saying that, “the news from Gbaran-Ubie keeps on getting better”.

According to him, “the project is on course to significantly increasing Nigeria’s oil and gas production while at the same time delivering great benefits to the host communities”.

The Tide gathered that work commenced on the Gbaran-Ubie project in 2005, and at its peak, the facility is expected to produce one billion standard cubic feet of gas and up to 70,000 barrels of oil per day.

However, Shell said the facility currently produces about 217,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The largest oil and gas company in Nigeria, indicated that at the peak of construction in 2008, the project created employment for almost 6,000 people, most of them, from the region, and particularly the host communities.

Shell authorities told The Tide that the Gbaran-Ubie facility is one of the largest oil and gas projects in Nigeria, with facilities traversing five oil fields in a stretch of around 650-square kilometer area.

The SPDC management insists that the project will significantly reduce gas flaring from nearby fields, such as Kolo Creek, Zarama and Epie, and would provide natural gas and oil for export, while availing the gas feedstock to enhance electricity generation and supply not only to communities in Bayelsa State, but the entire nation.

To achieve these targets, the facility has been looped to the various oil and gas fields within the circumference, while the Bayelsa State Independent Power Station at Imiringi and the Federal Government’s National Independent Power Project (NIPP) at Gbaran are also being powered by the GUIOGP.

In order to deliver on its corporate social responsibilities as part of its quest to assist in efforts to achieve sustainable development of the area, The Tide learnt that Shell had signed four Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoUs) with representatives of 44 host communities in a capsule of comprehensive community development programme.

Virtually all the GMoU tasks and targets, The Tide gathered, have been delivered to the beneficiary communities, while individuals and groups have also gained tremendously as a consequence of the project.

These include the provision of electrification, potable water, land transport schemes, town halls, roads, education and health infrastructure development, markets, micro-credit schemes, capacity building and human capital development, scholarship awards, and award of contracts to local contractors, among others.

Nelson Chukwudi