Shell restarts Assa north gas projects after insecurity disrupted operation

BusinessDay gathered that the company has secured the assurance of the Imo state government and the relevant security agencies that its staff and contractors would not be subjected to attacks while working on the site.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) is resuming work on the Assa North Gas Development Project in Imo State which was halted after gunmen killed six of its contractors in August last year.
BusinessDay gathered that the company has secured the assurance of the Imo state government and the relevant security agencies that its staff and contractors would not be subjected to attacks while working on the site.

“No project is worth the life of anyone,” said an official of Shell…. during a press briefing on with journalists in Lagos on Thursday.
Last August SPDC confirmed that unknown gunmen had attacked a convoy of buses taking staff of its contractor, Lee Engineering, to its Assa North Gas development project site in the Ohaji area of Imo State.

“We have since shut down the project site while the incident has been reported to the police for investigation. SPDC is working with the contractor and supporting the police through a thorough investigation of the incident and to prevent a recurrence,” it said in a statement.

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Following the attacks, intense manhunt of the suspected assailants led to several arrests including that of a local criminal gang leader called Emperor.
The project could add a big boost to the domestic gas aspiration of the Federal Government for increased power generation and industrialisation

At peak production, the project is expected to produce 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day and will be treated at SPDC JV’s Gas Processing Facility and distributed through the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben pipeline network.
Shell took the final investment decision on the project in 2018.

SPDC is the operator of a Joint Venture involving the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which holds 55 percent; Shell 30 percent; Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (TEPNG) 10 percent; and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) 5 percent.

Isaac Anyaogu

Isaac Anyaogu is an Assistant editor and head of the energy and environment desk. He is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, energy and environmental policies, regulation and climate change impacts in Africa. He was part of a journalist team that investigated lead acid pollution by an Indian recycler in Nigeria and won the international prize - Fetisov Journalism award in 2020. Mr Anyaogu joined BusinessDay in January 2016 as a multimedia content producer on the energy desk and rose to head the desk in October 2020 after several ground breaking stories and multiple award wining stories. His reporting covers start-ups, companies and markets, financing and regulatory policies in the power sector, oil and gas, renewable energy and environmental sectors He has covered the Niger Delta crises, and corruption in NIgeria’s petroleum product imports. He left the Audit and Consulting firm, OR&C Consultants in 2015 after three years to write for BusinessDay and his background working with financial statements, audit reports and tax consulting assignments significantly benefited his reporting. Mr Anyaogu studied mass communications and Media Studies and has attended several training programmes in Ghana, South Africa and the United States

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