Shell OKs Nigeria’s Assa North project

Shell announced the final investment decision for the Assa North Gas Development project in Nigeria on Sunday.

The project is set to plateau at 8.5 mcm (300 mcf) per day of natural gas, which will be processed at a Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) JV facility and distributed via the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben pipeline, the company said in a statement.

“This is good news for the SPDC JV and Nigeria as we look to grow the domestic market and optimise our onshore footprints,” the managing director of SPDC and country chair of Shell companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, said.

“The project is key to driving the federal government of Nigeria’s ambition of marching away from a mono-economy through diverse industrial growth. It is premier amongst the Seven Critical Gas Projects initiative led by the Ministry of Petroleum and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Their integrated focus, support and drive were instrumental to this investment decision,” he added.

The Seven Critical Gas Projects are set to bring a total of 96.3 mcm (3.4 bcf) per day of gas on line by 2020.

The Assa North field is situated in the northeastern segment of OML 21, which is owned by NNPC (55%), SPDC (30%), Total E&P Nigeria (10%) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (Eni) (5%).