Global energy company, Shell, has announced a new business line in Nigeria to expand natural gas marketing and sales to meet the rapidly growing energy needs of wholesale customers and provide more and cleaner energy solutions in the country.
This is as the Country Chair, Shell Companies In Nigeria (SCiN), Mr. Osagie Okunbor, has said that 100 per cent of its contracts worth $800 million were awarded to Nigerian companies in 2020.
Building on the success of Shell Nigeria Gas, Shell Energy Nigeria, aims to deliver competitive and reliable energy for power generation and industrial users and to develop gas distribution to serve the people in new regions.
Speaking during the unveiling of the new deal, the General Manager of Shell Energy Nigeria, Markus Hector said, “In line with the Federal Government’s ‘decade of gas’ initiative, Shell Energy Nigeria will strive to deliver gas-based energy solutions to a broad range of businesses across the country to help drive economic development and deliver greater value from the country’s natural resources”.
Shell Energy Nigeria’s gas solutions are designed to partner with other sources of energy – including renewables – to provide competitively priced and flexible energy, while helping the country to transition to a lower carbon energy system.
The new business would draw on the capabilities and experience of Shell Energy, a leading global provider of reliable, integrated and innovative energy solutions from a portfolio of natural gas, power and environmental products.
It offers a comprehensive selection of energy solutions available from a single supplier and made possible by one of the industry’s largest trading operations.
In his remarks, Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN), Osagie Okunbor, said, “Shell Energy Nigeria demonstrates our ongoing commitment to powering progress by providing more and cleaner energy solutions in the country.
“It brings to Nigeria Shell’s decades of marketing and trading experience, a wealth of market knowledge and its ability to integrate energy solutions to support economic development in Nigeria”, he added.
The Tide gathered that Shell Nigeria Gas would continue its current operations as part of Shell Energy Nigeria.
Incorporated in 1998, SNG is a fully owned Shell company for the downstream distribution of gas to over 120 industries and manufacturing plants in Nigeria.
The company’s 150-kilometre gas transmission and distribution network serves several distribution systems, including Agbara-Ota industrial cluster in Ogun State; the Aba cluster in Abia State, and the Port Harcourt cluster in Rivers State.
Similarly, Country Chair, Shell Companies In Nigeria (SCiN), Mr. Osagie Okunbor, has said that 100 per cent of its contracts worth $800 million were awarded to Nigerian companies in 2020.
Okunbor made the announcement during a panel session at the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria (NAEC) 2021 Strategic International Conference, yesterday in Lagos.
Okunbor, represented by Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG), Mr. Ed Ubong, said there was a need to work on building capacity in-country.
According to him, this will enable local industries to enter the supply chain and participate more aggressively.
He said: “We need to reduce the industry’s reliance on imports and create new markets in-country.
“At Shell, we recognise that local content is key to surviving a post-COVID-19 pandemic world and Shell will continue to invest in this space.
“We remain committed to building capacity and competence in country to enable more Nigerians participate directly and indirectly in the gas value chain and pump more money into the local economy by supporting Nigerian companies.
“Shell assists Nigerian companies to achieve the necessary certification for their products and services to ensure that they qualify for tenders and contracts to provide goods and services across its operations and the Nigerian oil and gas.
“In 2020, 100 per cent of SCiN contracts, worth $800million, were awarded to Nigerian companies.
“SCiN has also provided access to nearly $1.5billion in loans to 764 Nigerian vendors under the Shell Contractor Support Fund since 2012.”
Okunbor said these loans had helped to improve their tendering opportunities.
He said Shell was also investing in a gas portfolio that would increase supply for Nigerian and international customers via an expanding network of plants, pipelines and export terminals.
Okunbor said they were being developed with joint venture partners, the Nigerian government and communities.

By: Nelson Chukwudi