Nigeria's Bayelsa State 'Shuts Shell Gas Plant'
A state government in Nigeria’s Niger Delta said it has sealed the Gbaran-Ubie oil and gas production facility operated by the Nigerian affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell and evicted its staff.
Bayelsa State government issued a statement on April 18 saying it had sealed the premises following an eviction order issued by the state’s high court in Yenagoa so that the state government could conduct checks on the premises. The statement said the facility, opened in 2010, "was said to have been built without a building permit (called a Development Permit) as required by law.”
Bayelsa State planning and development board executive secretary Boro Ige-Edaba claimed that, despite notices served on Shell since last year, it had “neglected, refused and failed to comply with the provisions and requirements of the law and regulations made pursuant to the law."
Despite being contacted by NGE on April 19, there was no immediate statement from Shell, and it was unclear what implications this might have if any – and for how long – on other Shell onshore operations in the area, and on the nearby power plants and the Nigeria LNG (NLNG) export plant.
In April 2011 Shell said that the Gbaran-Ubie facility attained its gas design capacity of 1bn ft3/d (equivalent to 10.3bn m3/yr) on February 5 that year, and that it expected production would soon peak at 70,000 b/d. It added that gas would supply the Bayelsa State power plant at Imiringi and a new 225-MW plant to be built at Gbaran by the federal government, with the rest of the gas supplied to NLNG for export. In mid-2013 Shell and partners took the final investment decision on Gbaran-Ubie phases 2a and 2b – the former of which was to monetise 1.3 trillion ft3 of non-associated gas reserves, also for use by NLNG and in power generation. Shell’s website says that phase 2a construction work is in progress.
Last month the English High Court agreed to hear decade-old claims against Shell over oil spills from the Ogale and Bille communities; this followed an $83.5mn settlement by Shell last year in respect of claims by the separate Bodo community. All three groups live in the Niger Delta.
On April 18, Shell's 2015 global Sustainability Report said that gas flaring by Shell's Nigeria operations declined by 28%, in part due to asset divestments, although flaring intensity – presumably on assets carried forward – also decreased by 15%, both relative to 2014. It also reported a decline in its Nigeria oil spills. However the nominal units disclosed for both spills and flaring do not facilitate like-for-like comparisons.
Mark Smedley