Oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), has
declared electricity problem is not about power generation but
distribution to various parts despite the nation’s huge gas
reserve.
Speaking to newsmen in Warri, at the media launch of the 2019
edition of Shell in Nigeria Briefing Notes over the weekend, SPDC
General Manager External Relations, Igo Weli, disclosed the
company’s joint venture Afam VI power plant supplied about 13
percent power to the national grid last year.
Weli, who was represented by SPDC Head Government Relations
West, Alaye Dokubo, also assured of Shell’s focus on the economic
growth and development of its host communities in Delta state, in
particular, the Sea Eagle Floating Production, Storage and
Offloading (FPSO) vessel, 19 Producing Fields within four
Production Nodes and several gas projects at its operations in
Forcados.
He noted that since inception of the Global Memorandum of
Understanding, $239 million have been disbursed to fund social
investment schemes which supports education, health, sports, as
well as enterprise development, Nigeria, especially in Delta
state.
Weli also pointed out that these ongoing projects, which include
Forcados Yokri Intregated, Southern Swamp, Associated Gas Solution,
Escravos NGC and Otumara Associated Gas Gathering, put to rest
assertions that Shell is no more in Delta.
“SPDC JV has strong commitment to the development of Delta State
and Nigeria through its delivery of positive social outcomes and
strong relationships with stakeholders and communities to support
business growth and social license to operate.
“While the SPDC JV develops its assets and facilities, it also
implements several development projects for host communities,
covering economic empowerment, human capital development and
provision of social infrastructure.
“As evidence of our commitment to Delta State, in 2018, SPDC JV
spent more than N390 million on development projects in Global
Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) clusters on roads, schools, town
halls and markets, award of secondary school and university
scholarships as well as microcredit programmes for small
businesses,” Weli stated.
He further charged stakeholders of the oil and gas industry to
put more efforts to ending illegal refinery and pipeline vandalism,
stating that 11,000 barrels of crude oil were lost to these
activities in 2018.
Shell spokesman, Michael Adande, who explained more on the
company’s commitment to sustaining renewable energy for Nigeria,
remarked that even when power is generated, its distribution
remains a problem because many areas remain unconnected to the
national grid.
It will be noted that Nigeria’s production of liquefied natural
gas for the year 2018 was put at around 7% of global capacity.
Adande said: “In Shell globally, we have a team called Energy
Transition and we recognise that we need to thinks of what is
new.
“Our own challenge in Nigeria is really access to energy. You
will agree that there are still many places in this country where
there is no electricity. You heard our Afam VI power plant supplied
13% of power to the national grid, however, we know that
distribution of power in Nigeria is still a big problem.
“Even when you produce all the power, how it gets to people in
Nigeria is still a challenge. I’m sure the country is managing
that. But what we have tried to do as Shell, because we are more
concerned about stakeholders in our communities or areas of
operation, we have set up outfits.
“What we are talking about here is access to energy and one of
the companies that you may have checked is called All-On. We wanted
it to run on its own. It is a company that enables people to have
access to energy.
“As part of efforts to creating sustainable and commercially
viable energy, Shell has taken some critical gas development
projects, in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), to increase gas supply for power generation,”
he said.