The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday signed seven Critical Gas Development Projects (7CGDP) to deliver about 3.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (bscfd) to bridge the foreseen medium term supply gap by 2020.
The 7CGDP is an integral leg of the gas development strategy designed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)to leverage the full potential of gas to meet the target of generating at least 15 gigawatts (GW) of electricity by 2020.
He said NNPC had engaged two World Class Project Management Consultants namely DeltaAfrik/ Worley Parson & Crestech/Penspen who will work with NPDC and NNPC JV Partners and other stakeholders to achieve set project deliverables.
He listed some of the responsibilities of the project consultants to include: working with NNPC and partners to revalidate and carry out relevant technical studies to proposeddevelopment plans, provide financial advisory services for project funding/ financing strategy and appraise the fiscal requirements for viability and advice on interventions that may be required.
The PMT are also expected to study and recommend fasttrack tendering process for field development and project implementation, establish realistic cost benchmark(s) for identified projects and develop project schedules and cost estimates for the respective projects among others Dr.
Baru explained that in addition to the above, the NNPC Project Management groups would strengthen oversight function on the seven (7) critical gas development projects by ensuring prompt decision making and timely approvals in line with international best practices.
The NNPC GMD said the Corporation was working closely with other agencies like the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)and the Nigerian Content Monitoring and Development Board (NCMDB), among others, to ensure timely approvals for the project and also ensure that lease renewals requests related to these projects were supported for renewals by relevant agency.
Mr.
Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) which is handling three out of the seven projects, pledged the commitment of the company to the successful execution of the 7CGDP, noting that Shell was fully aligned with Nigeria’s gas strategy and aspirations.
Highpoint of the event was the formal execution of agreement for the development of the 6.4 trillion cubic feet unitized gas fields (Samabri-Bisseni, Akri-Oguta, Ubie-Oshi fields by NNPC/Shell and NAOC JV.
The 7CGDP include: development of the 4.3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) Assa North/Ohaji South field; development of the 6.4 TCF Unitized Gas fields (SamabriBiseni, Akri-Oguta,