After more than a year on the sidelines, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria has resumed the export of liquefied petroleum gas to the United States.
This comes just as Shell lifted the force majuere from its Forcardos Crude Terminal, which adds 112,000 barrels to Nigeria daily exports with likely downward pressure on global prices.
The export programme is being executed under a Gas Processing Agreement between SPDC and Global Gas and Refining Limited, the Nigerian subsidiary of Houston-based Global Energy Incorporated.
Shell said on Tuesday, �The Gas Processing Agreement between SPDC and Global Gas and Refining is still in force in response to our correspondent�s enquiries.
�Activities were down for over one year, owing to attacks by militants on SPDC�s Cawthorne Channel Gas Plant and general insecurity in the Niger Delta.�
The oil major said that both companies resumed operations from the facilities in July 2007, adding that till date Global Gas had exported three cargoes under the GPA.
The GPA came into force in July 2005, when Global Gas announced the commencement of commercial production of LPG at Shell�s Cawthorne Channel gas processing plant at the Bonny River area in Rivers State.
Under the GPA, Shell was contracted to supply Global�s Cawthorne Channel plant with 80 million cubic feet per day of associated gas from its Cawthorne Channel and Awoba fields.
The facility is reputed as the first indigenous-owned and operated LPG processing plant in Africa. It is capable of processing about 120million cubic feet of gas per day.
Shell said, �Global extracts liquids/heavy ends from the gas and then returns lean gas to SPDC for delivery to Nigeria LNG Limited in Bonny. About 15 per cent of the gas volume is used up as a result of the liquid extraction.�
�Because both parties are yet to achieve the milestone of �Independent Engineer Certification� of their plants as fit for operations, the parties are currently using best endeavours to supply and take gas of about 40 – 60MMscf/d, against the contractual volume of 80MMscf/d.�
The processed gas will be transported through Global�s 23-kilometre pipeline to storage aboard a 75,000-cubic-metre capacity Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel, the Berge Okoloba Toru, leased by Global from Bergesen, and moored on the Bonny River.
At the outset of the GPA, international oil service company, Vitol S.A., would lift the product for export to the United States.
In terms of local content, Shell said, the domestic gas processing contract is the first of its kind between an international oil company and an indigenous company in Nigeria.
It said, �SPDC is pleased to play a leading role in efforts to help Nigerian companies to acquire technological and managerial know-how in gas processing.�
Oct102007