TheCable

Royal Dutch Shell, British-Dutch oil and gas company, says it has started gas production from the second phase of the Gbaran-Ubie project in the Niger Delta.

According to a statement released by the company on Wednesday, the project is an expansion of the Gbaran-Ubie development project that started in June 2010.

Through its Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria subsidiary, Shell says the project will reach peak production of around 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2019.

Shell, which began operations in Nigeria in 1958, is the operator of a joint venture between state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Total E&P Nigeria and ENI subsidiary Nigerian Agip Oil Company.

According to a report by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Nigeria currently produces 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, a figure that the country hopes to increase to 2.2 million barrels by 2018.

Shell operates Forcados pipeline terminal, one of the largest in the Niger Delta region. After militants attacked the pipeline terminal in February 2016, Shell declared force majeure, a legal clause that allows it to stop shipments at the terminal without breaching contracts.

It recently resumed loadings in June 2017, pushing Nigeria’s crude oil production to a one-year high.

According to Mordecia B.N. Ladan, Department of Petroleum Resources director, Nigeria has the 9th largest gas reserves in the world estimated at 192 Trillion Cubic Feet, TCF.