Hector Igbikiowubo
28 November 2008
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), a subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell, and operator of the NNPC/SPDC joint venture, yesterday, announced the temporary shut down of the Soku Gas Plant in Rivers State and the consequent start off of 40 per cent gas supply to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) plant in Bonny.
Following the shut-off of gas, Shell has declared a force majeure on gas supplies to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) for the duration of the shut down, an indication that some 40% of NLNG's feed gas supplies would also remain offline.
Speaking on the development, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, the company's Managing Director, said more than 50 illegal valves were removed from the pipeline between August and September alone.
"Our first responsibility is for the health and safety of our staff and our neighbours. The level of theft from this pipeline has meant we had to remove more than 50 illegal valves in August and September alone. Over the last few weeks, the situation has deteriorated rapidly and resulted in a situation where safety concerns dictated we had to shut in. We also approached a stage where we have questions regarding the integrity of the pipeline which we will check," Sunmonu said.
In recent months, the number of illegal connections on pipelines have increased significantly and they are encroaching on the Soku plant itself, increasing safety risks to an unacceptable level.
The company also explained that to ensure the safety and security of staff, contractor staff and communities, urgent repair work must be carried out immediately on the pipelines outside of the perimeter of the plant.
"To do this safely, the plant must be shut down. SPDC will also clean up nearby environmental damage caused by condensate spilled in these illegal operations," he said.
In September 2000, Willbros was awarded an engineering and construction contract for the first phase of the project. Phase I activities were designed to debottleneck the facilities, enabling an increase in gross production capacity and high-pressure associated gas gathering capacity by:
•Increasing the crude processing capacity from 30 to 50 Mbpd through the installation of a second surge vessel, two additional crude pumps and addition metering
•Upgrading the existing high-pressure flare from 30 to 60 MMscf/d capacity and smokeless operation.
The Soku facilities are located in a coastal swamp area about 40 km south-west of Port Harcourt. The flow station and development facilities are situated on piled platforms in the swamp, and can only be reached by boat or helicopter.
In 2004, Saipem was awarded a contract to lay a gas pipeline of approximately 82 km in the Niger Delta to transport natural gas from Rumuji, 30 km north-east of Port Harcourt, to the NLNG natural gas liquefaction plant at Bonny Island and to expand the capacity of the Soku natural gas treatment plant.
SPDC is the largest private-sector oil and gas company in Nigeria. It is the operator of a joint venture in which the government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), holds 55%, Shell 30%, Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited (a subsidiary of Total) 10%, and Agip 5%.
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