With the global energy market in a constant state of evolution, jumping from region to region as the international nature of the market reveals itself to us, some parts of the world are now receiving the attention they deserve from some of the largest energy companies in the world, Shell. Africa has long been overshadowed by the rest of the world in terms of developing its energy infrastructure and new projects. Shell recently revealed that through its subsidiary, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, it has reached a final investment decision on a new Nigerian offshore natural gas project.
Nigeria’s Hi gas project receives the backing of Shell and its partners
Nigeria has, for many decades, been known as a nation with vast natural energy resources, with the nation’s oil fields being a major economic driver for the central African nation. However, natural gas has been identified as a great transitional energy resource that the world has yet to fully explore. Shell recently made a final investment decision, along with its partners, on the Nigerian gas project.
Sunlink Energies and Resources, along with the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, are set to make a deep dive into the Nigerian natural gas sector through the planned HI gas project offshore Nigeria. Nigeria LNG, or NLNG, in which Shell holds a 25% stake, is set to receive 350 million standard cubic feet per day of gas, or around 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent.
Nigeria LNG has operations on the go all around the world
The company has leaned on the experience of Shell and its partners to develop natural gas projects all around the world, with operations in regions far away from African shores, exemplifying the cooperative nature of the global energy market in recent years. The expected rise in feedstock to Nigeria LNG through the Train 7 project aims to enhance the Bonny Island terminal’s production capacity, aligning with Shell’s ambitions for gas production.\
Shell plans to increase its gas production footprint by the end of the decade
The firm has expressed a strategy to increase its global LNG production by 4–5% every year by 2030. The Nigerian gas project is being developed as a joint venture in which Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company holds a 40% stake, and Sunlink Energies and Resources, which owns the remaining 60% stake. Other energy majors are reaching similar astonishing FIDs on new gas projects around the world.
The project consists of the installation of a wellhead platform with four wells, as well as a pipeline to transport gas to Bonny, and lastly, the H1 project calls for a new gas processing facility to be built at Bonny. The Nigerian government recently approved TotalEnergies’ divestment of its holdings in Oil Mining Lease 118, which includes the Bonga field, to Shell and Nigerian Agip Exploration.
“Following recent investment decisions related to the Bonga deep-water development, today’s announcement demonstrates our continued commitment to Nigeria’s energy sector, with a focus on deep-water and integrated gas. This upstream project will help Shell grow our leading integrated gas portfolio, while supporting Nigeria’s plans to become a more significant player in the global LNG market.” – Shell upstream president Peter Costello
Africa’s energy sector has been attracting the attention of some of the world’s top operators
The news of Shell diving into the sea of new possibilities of natural gas production in Nigeria is exemplary of the state of the African energy market in recent years, with Libya reporting a new major onshore oil discovery recently. Shell’s generational experience and expertise in the energy market will surely benefit the H1 gas project in Nigeria, as the nation aims to become the dominant force in the regional gas sector over the coming years. Amid calls to diversify the international energy market, gas is standing firm as the go-to resource for many nations.
