By Adedapo Adesanya
Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) Limited has commenced the City Gate Gas Plant in Aba, Abia State, a project that will ensure safe transmission and delivery of gas to business customers in the commercial city.
The Aba City Gate Gas Plant, according to SNG, is a 10 million standard cubit feet of gas per day (mmscfd) facility that can be expanded to 30 mmscfd, equivalent, with 40 megawatts gas-to-power electricity generation capacity which is also expandable to 120 megawatts.
The Aba City Gate Gas plant will complement SNG’s recently completed 20 kilometres domestic gas pipeline expansion project in Abia State, connecting Agbor Hill, Osisioma and Ariaria industrial zones.
The expansion project has enabled the supply of pipeline gas to Ariaria Market Energy Solutions Limited, the Independent Power Project (IPP) consortium that provides electricity to the popular Ariaria market in the state.
Ariaria International Market is one of the largest leather shoe-making and open stall markets in West Africa, with over 37,000 shops and an estimated one million traders.
Speaking, the Managing Director of SNG, Mr Ed Ubong, said SNG is the first gas distribution company in Nigeria to adopt this technical solution that ensures plant and product integrity.
He said, “The Aba City Gate Plant will enable SNG to remove more impurities from natural gas, odorise the gas to increase quality gas to end-users.
“The project is the solution to the challenge businesses in the region face with the frequent incursion of liquid into the gas pipelines. It is therefore aimed to provide customers with top-quality gas supply at a reduced cost.
“SNG is Nigeria’s first and wholly-owned subsidiary of an international oil company involved in domestic gas distribution in Nigeria, and has introduced the technical solution for reinjection of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) through its pipeline network, which enables injection of odours into natural gas and facilitates detection in case of a leak.”
Mr Ubong said SNG was committed to uninterrupted supply of quality gas to its customers in order to create increased business opportunities for its stakeholders.
“Our development objective remains the creation of a greater positive impact in our host communities and the provision of more and cleaner energy.”
Also, the leader of the project host community, Eze Okechukwu Onwuka, assured of the provision of enabling environment for operations.
“The community is proud of the role that Shell is playing in driving development and economic empowerment through its domestic gas supply. We promise to continue to provide an enabling environment for smooth operations of the company’s activities in the community.”
SNG, together with its partners and local stakeholders, has agreements to build gas distribution infrastructure and deliver natural gas to over 150 industrial and commercial customers, mostly in Ogun, Abia, Rivers, Bayelsa and Lagos States.
This will drive industrialisation, provide employment for the skilled and unskilled local population in addition to directly improving internally generated revenues in these states.
Dipo Olowookere