Shell Plans $15bn Investments in Nigeria, Targets 70% Local Content

By Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) yesterday said that it would be expending about $15 billion across 24 oil and gas projects in Nigeria in the next five years.
Speaking at 2nd Nigeria Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF), concluded in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Managing Director of Shell, Mr. Nosa Okunbor, who spoke on the need for Nigerians to take advantage of the opportunities in the oil industry, also said that the oil giant would, in the next five years, surpass a 70 per cent target in the deployment of wholly Nigerian human and material resources to achieve its production benchmark.
The two-day programme was themed “Maximising Investment into the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry for the Benefits of the Nigerian People” and was organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) headquartered in Bayelsa.

Okunbor added that when completed, the ongoing projects, in the next five years, were capable of generating thousands of jobs in the industry and cited the Assa North, Ohaji project in Imo State as capable of generating 1,200 megawatts and powering over 1.2 million Nigerian homes.
“These remain exciting times for Nigeria as Shell along with its partners will be maturing several projects in support of Nigeria’s growth ambition.
“A cocktail of policies and the active support of government and its agencies like NCDMB have made these investments possible as industry continues to witness improved cycle times.
“We have an investment portfolio of over $15 billion over the next five years. Shell’s investments will bring huge benefits to the country and its people in terms of contracts and jobs” he said.

According to him, the company has already taken a Final Investment Decision (FID) on the 300million scf/d Assa North Ohaji (ANOH) gas project, which on completion is expected to generate circa 1200MW to power circa 1.2m homes (1MW – 1000homes) by supplying gas into the domestic gas market.
He added: “In addition to these, we are also maturing several sizeable projects planned to start within the next five years. Twenty eight projects covering export gas, domestic gas and oil projects spread across Deep Offshore, Shallow Water, Swamp and Land terrains.
“Benchmark for all these projects is to meet and where possible surpass the 70% Nigerian Content target. Employment opportunities are huge, not to mention the spin-off in allied services.”

He also listed the onshore oil opportunities as the drilling and completion of over 100 wells; flowlines and bulklines of over 700 km, noting that most of the opportunities would be driven by six infill projects.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, noted that the event was to showcase opportunities in the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream sectors of the Petroleum Industry.

He noted it will also provide stakeholders with information on upcoming projects to enable Nigerian companies/manufacturers tailor their business development strategies.
“It will help identify high impact activities with potential for in-country value addition and develop a five-year roadmap to ensure sustainable Nigerian Content Development,” he said.