The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited at the weekend in Abuja signed an agreement with Geometric Power Aba Limited to support the 140-megawatts Aba Integrated Power Project (IPP) in Abia State
The agreement is a gas supply and aggregation agreement signed between SPDC, Geometric Power Aba Limited, and Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria.
Consequently, Shell will supply gas via an already installed gas pipeline network from the SPDC venture gas plant in Imo River traversing Abia and Rivers states to the power producer, Geometric Power Aba Limited.
According to the Managing Director of SPDC who also is the country Chair of Shell companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, the deal was to demonstrate that the company was committed to the industrialisation of the country through gas.
Represented by SPDC’s General Manager, Business and Government Relations, Bashir Bello, Okunbor said, “For more than 50 years, Shell has been in the forefront of the campaign to develop and monetise Nigeria’s huge gas resources and it is good to see more players joining the fray to grow the gas market and help improve lives and the earnings in Nigeria.”
Also speaking at the signing ceremony of the agreement, Nigeria’s Minister of state for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu noted that the Aba IPP had the potential of opening up the Aba market for economic growth.
Kachikwu who was represented by his Special Adviser on Fiscal Strategy, Dr Tim Okon, said the government was determined in ensuring the commercial sustainability of any such project with the potential to grow the gas market.
The Chief Executive Officer, GAPL, Prof. Bath Nnaji, said the project would woo investors into gas production in the domestic market.
