Yemisi Izuora
The Shell Nigeria Gas Limited (SNG), has assured manufacturers at Nigeria’s largest manufacturing equipment and raw material expo, organized by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria in Lagos, of the company’s resolve to continue to collaborate with industry stakeholders and government to find lasting solution to current challenges facing the industry with supply of domestic gas.
Managing Director of, SNG, Mr. Ralph Gbobo, who gave the assurance, further reiterated SNG’s commitment to provide manufacturing and industrial customers with clean, reliable, low-cost alternative to liquid fuel, and to assist in building a stronger Nigerian economy.
Mr. Gbobo said, “Immediate implementation, at zero cost to government, of initiatives such as enforcing discipline and transparency in the gas transportation network operation, enforcing contractual terms across the gas value chain and implementing the Network Code, and enforcement of gas system balancing, are proposals that would provide the critical foundation for other (medium and long term) solutions.”
“Solutions that include upgrading existing transportation infrastructure, completing critical gas pipelines and network interconnectivity, promoting a willing-buyer/willing-seller marketplace, setting globally competitive fiscals for gas, and improving regulator efficiency and effectiveness,” he said.
Discussing the insights into Nigeria’s gas market, Mr. Gbobo said the domestic gas market faces challenges that include limited processing and transportation infrastructure, inadequate measurement and control systems, non-implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) & Network Code, lack of transparency in gas injections and offtake, and non-enforcement of gas system balancing.
He reaffirmed Shell’s commitment to Federal Government of Nigeria’s ‘Decade of Gas’ ambition to increase domestic gas consumption and boost gas-based industrialization; as well as to the full implementation of the Gas Transportation Network Code and the upcoming SNG Bypass Project, expected to come online in Q1 of 2024.
Mr. Gbobo emphasized, “With gas, we are driving industrialization, providing employment and improving internally generated revenues in the states where we operate.”
“Shell Nigeria Gas Limited (SNG) has built and is operating extensive distribution network spanning over 150 kilometers, currently supplying gas to over 130 manufacturing and industrial customers in Abia, Ogun and Rivers States. The gas distribution infrastructure in Ogun State is underpinned by SNG’s strategic partnership with NNPC Gas Marketing Limited (NGML), which has enabled the establishment of a robust distribution network in the Agbara/Ota area,” he said.
He said, “Similar partnership with the Oyo State Government, for the acceleration of domestic gas infrastructure development to enable distribution of cleaner and more reliable energy to industries in the state, and another in Bayelsa State, involving an agreement with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to provide gas infrastructure to the NCDMB industrial gas park in Polaku, with estimated potential employment opportunities exceeding 30,000, are some of other deliberate decisions we have taken at Shell for Nigeria’s domestic gas market.”
At the Expo hosted by the MAN in Lagos, Shell Nigeria Gas received commendation from MAN leadership for its contributions to bridging the energy gap and supporting the ‘Decade of Gas’ ambition. The company was also recognized as the most innovative exhibitor at the expo.
Shell Nigeria Gas Limited is a fully owned Shell company incorporated in 1998 for the downstream distribution of gas to industries in Nigeria. SNG has built a reputation for safety and credibility and is the only gas distribution company in Nigeria whose facility is ISO 14001:2015 certified.