Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell has started gas production from the second phase of the Gbaran-Ubie project in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, the company said on Wednesday.
The project is an expansion of the Gbaran-Ubie development, which opened in June 2010.
Shell, through its Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria subsidiary, said the project would reach peak production of around 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2019.
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria is the operator of a Nigerian joint venture between state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Total E&P Nigeria and ENI subsidiary Nigerian Agip Oil Company.
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Shell started business in Nigeria in 1937 as Shell D’Arcy and was granted an exploration license.
In 1956, Shell Nigeria discovered the first commercial oil field at Oloibiri in the Niger Delta and started oil exports in 1958.
Prior to the discovery of oil, Nigeria like many other African countries strongly relied on agricultural exports to other countries to support its economy.
Many Nigerians thought the developers were looking for palm oil.
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is the largest fossil fuel company in Nigeria, which operates over 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) of pipelines and flowlines, 87 flowstations, 8 natural gas plants and more than 1,000 producing wells.
