By Hector Igbikiowubo
MANAGING Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Mutiu Sunmonu says the company produces one million standard cubic feet of gas daily for domestic use, the News Agency of Nigeria reported recently.

The development comes even as the company restarted the Soku gas plant which was shut down to protect its integrity after repeated vandalism on the supply lines.

Speaking when Minister of State for Energy Odein Ajumogobia visited the company’s gas plant in southeast Nigeria’s Rivers State on Monday, Sunmonu said Shell would endeavor to meet the gas supply target set by the government.

He said the gas sector needed adequate funding by the government to enable it to achieve set goals. The managing director said attacks by militants against oil and gas installations in the past affected gas supplies and urged the government to work out strategies that would enable the sector to operate in a crisis free environment.

He added that three flow stations at the plant had the capacity to store 30 million cubic feet of gas and send natural gas to the liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny.

Sunmonu said the plant was capable of compressing, conditioning and exporting AGG, a component of gas, to the Nigeria liquefied gas company in Bonny and the Nigerian gas company in Delta.

Earlier, the minister said the government was determined to develop the gas sector to enable it to meet its potential, adding that his ministry was ready to partner Shell to meet the set goals in the oil and gas sectors.
Soku gas plant:

Shell has also resumed operations at its Soku gas plant last week, a company official said recently.
The plan had been off line for nearly a year after it was forced to shut down because of attacks on its pipelines.
“We started production on the 15th (of October). Production is ramping up, but we don’t divulge current production figures,” spokesman Tony Okonedo said in a Reuters report.

The Soku gas plant supplies gas feed stock to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas trains 1, 2 and 3, has installed capacity for 1.1 billion cubic feet of gas and 36,000 barrels of condensate per day.

It would be recalled that several oil and gas facilities including the Soku gas plant, Utorogu gas plant, EA field, were among those impacted by the militancy inspired violence – leaving scores of people dead or homeless.

The violence also shut in over one million barrels of the country’s crude oil production before government proposed the amnesty scheme aimed at restoring normalcy to the region.

Since the amnesty package was announced more than 12,000 militants have accepted the package while also surrendering their arms and ammunition.Similarly, checks revealed that Nigeria’s crude oil production have gone up from previous month’s levels. However, uncertainty persists over government’s capacity to stay the course and keep militants from returning to the creeks.