|
Shell renews faith in Nigeria
Shell renews faith in Nigeria
SOPURUCHI ONWUKA
ANGLO-Dutch
oil giant, Shell Group, has restated its determination to lead Nigeria’s oil
and gas industry, with a projected additional investment of over $9 billion in
the next five years.
The group has, however,
identified the challenges of addressing wholesale stealing of its crude and
rising spate of violence in the production environment as sources of serious
threat to optimising investments.
At a dinner held for the new
chief executive officers of the group’s business units in Africa and Nigeria
respectively, out-going managing director of SPDC and new CEO of Shell’s E
& P, Africa region, Mr. Chris Finlayson, said location of the region’s
headquarters in Lagos was a demonstration of the company’s faith in Nigeria.
He said Shell would in the next
five years, invest further nine billion dollars in the country on deepwater,
liquefied natural gas and onshore operations.
"Coming at a time when there
was some speculations about Shell’s future in Nigeria, this development is a
resounding demonstration of the company’s long term commitment in maintaining
our position as the largest foreign investor in Nigeria," Mr. Finlayson
said.
Mr. Finlayson’s comments came
on the heels of strong insinuations that Shell might pull out of Nigeria under
increasing community hostilities.
The speculations were fuelled by
the conclusion of an independent inquiry commissioned by the groups headquarters
to determine the viability of its investments in Nigeria in the face of growing
restiveness in the Niger Delta.
The report released early in the
year and coincided with Shells reserves cut crisis, examined the level of the
company’s involvement in the Niger Delta crisis and concluded that it might
pull out its investments from Nigeria under intense community hostilities and
more militant aggression.
But Shell disagreed with the
conclusions, saying the inquiry overplayed on the company’s predicaments.
Finlayson noted that the group’s
African headquarters in Lagos would have Nigerians occupying over 30 per cent of
its leadership position at initial stage and greater percentage from other Shell
companies in Africa.
Mr. Finlayson congratulated his
successor, Nigeria’s Basil Omiyi, on his appointment as SPDC managing director
and assured him of full operational freedom in tackling enormous challenges that
lie ahead of him, especially ugly incidences in the Niger Delta, resulting in
massive crude oil theft from the company’s facilities.
He regretted that over 50,000
barrels of the company’s oil were stolen each day to fund militant activism
despite significant support from the nation’s security agencies.
Despite the uncongenial operating
environment, he noted, shell has sustained a production average of over one
million barrels per day, committed to sufficient level of funding to NLGN Train
VI, to the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS) pipeline, and expansion of SOLU
gas plant.
In his speech, Mr. Omiyi who will
assume office as new SPDC managing director Wednesday pledged to deliver on
commitments of the joint venture operations.
SPDC is the operator of Nigeria’s
biggest oil and gas joint venture involving the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), Shell, Total and Agip.
"The challenges posed by
SPDC’s importance to the national economy and the sensitivities surrounding
oil and gas production mean that there has never been and would never be a dull
moment for us," he pledged.
|
