ANOH gas project: Shell hands out N360m third milestone CDBs social investment projects

…Imo governor commends company’s promotion of community contractors

…CDBs to receive N1bn in projects over 5 years

Ben Eguzozie, in Port Harcourt

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), global oil player with the largest footprint in Nigeria, has handed out cheques worth over N360 million to community contractors for the third milestone cluster development boards (CDBs) social investment projects designed to benefit host communities of the Assa North Gas Development Project.

The multi-billion-dollar Asa North-Ohaji South (ANOH) gas project, is one of the largest greenfield gas condensate development projects ever undertaken in Nigeria. It is expected to produce 600 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mscf/d), an equivalent of approximately 2.4 gigawatts (GW) of electricity for Nigeria.

ANOH, being developed by Shell, and estimated to cost over $3.5 billion, is sited on 200 hectares of land in Ohaji-Egbema local government area of Imo State, which was based on a request in June 2012 by Shell. The land is part of the state’s equity contribution to the project.

Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State lauded Shell’s commitment to the development of infrastructure and human capital in communities hosting the Assa North Gas Development project in the state.

Represented by Ikay Njoku, the commissioner for Environment, the governor also endorsed the gas project’s Cluster Development Board’s (CDB) employment of community contractors for the social investment projects.

Imo, an oil-rich state, is said to be awash with huge gas deposits in excess of 700 billion cubic feet of gas much of which have not been harnessed. Nigeria has 200.79 trillion cubic feet of gas as of 2019, according to figures posted by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

The governor said: “I commend the Assa North and Ohaji Egbema Cluster Development Boards, as well as their community contractors for doing good jobs so far. Imo State Government will continue to monitor project execution to ensure that contractors do not lower the quality and standard of the jobs. We will have zero tolerance for corruption.”

Chairman of Assa North CDB, Godswill Uzomba Uho, his counterpart for the Ohaji/Egbema CDB, Casmir Ekeruo all pledged to “continue to monitor the community contractors to ensure they executed the projects with right standards maintained.

Meanwhile, Banji Adekoya, SPDC’s external relations manager, projects and opportunities, said SPDC was committed to supporting projects that increase the capacity of the communities to deliver credible projects.

He said, the gas development project in Imo was one of the priority projects of the federal government of Nigeria, because its development will help the government deliver on its ambition to provide enough gas for domestic consumption, power generation and gas-based ammonia and urea fertilizers for farmers.”

“The Assa North Gas Development Project will be a major game-changer in our country’s quest for energy sufficiency and economic growth and, once again, it emphasizes Shell’s unshaken commitment to Nigeria both now and in the future,” the SPDC official said.

He confirmed the project’s potential as one of the largest domestic gas projects in the country when completed. That when completed, the ANOH gas project will produce 600 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mscf/d) from its upstream facilities, and process 300 mscf/d from the SPDC gas facility under construction to boost domestic gas supply for power generation and general industrialization.

According to him, to benefit the local communities, SPDC has a deliberate Nigerian and Community Content strategy embedded in the projects’ operations to create vast opportunities for Nigerian firms in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts; immense employment and sub-contracting opportunities for workers and local contractors in the project area; as well as opportunities for capacity development initiatives, knowledge transfer and human capital development.

In February 2019, Shell inaugurated CDBs for the major gas project, in which it would spend N1 billion in the project’s host communities over the next five years.

The CDBs are made up of principal officers of the Community Trusts from 11 communities of the ANOH gas development project, and would have the responsibility for implementing a global memorandum of understanding (GMOU) established for the project.

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant had earlier in late 2018 announced a final investment decision (FID) on the gas project. This was followed by signing of a GMOU with the project’s host communities in Ohaji-Egbema local government area of Imo State.

The Cluster Development Boards implement Shell’s Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) for delivering sustainable development projects in the host communities.