Nigeria, SPDC achieves record gas production at 512MMscf/d
Posted on November 24, 2009 – 11:21 am | by oilandgaspress.com
The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), operators of a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has set a record gas production with a total of 512 million standard cubic feet of gas (MMscf/d) in Western Niger Delta.
SPDC said the production level was the highest in two years from the area, disclosing that the gas would go into the domestic gas network for national power generation and manufacturing industries.
Managing Director, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, stated that prior to this time, average gas production from SPDC’s Western operations was 300MMscf/d, explaining that this development had boosted the company’s gas production.
Sunmonu, said: “The latest achievement consolidates our position as Nigeria’s leading gas producer. 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.”
The company, he noted, achieved the record production from four gas plants - Utorogu, Oben, Sapele and Ughelli East – pointing out that Sapele and Oben had been shut in since late last year because of attacks on the pipeline infrastructure, but with the repair of the pipelines this year, the two gas plants have since resumed production.
At Utorogu, SPDC said it executed engineering and production optimisation activities including capacity upgrade and focused gas wells deliverability tests which enabled the facility to increase output and improve gas quality.
Operations Manager for Land West, Mr. Chidube Nnene-Anochie, said the feat was achieved through integrated efforts of Operations/Maintenance and multi-disciplinary support teams, which comprised development, wells, engineering, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), finance, contracting, pipelines, adding that “we are all committed to sustaining the tempo.”The SPDC, it was gathered, pioneered domestic utilisation of natural gas in Nigeria in the 1960s via supply to industries in the Port Harcourt and Trans-Amadi and Aba areas, and remained the only supplier of gas to the domestic market until about 1998.
According to the company, over the past few years, the SPDC had been producing on average about two thirds of Nigeria’s total domestic gas volumes mainly for power generation.
Tags: domestic gas, Natural Gas, Niger Delta, NIGERIA, pipeline infrastructure, power generation, Sapele
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