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DMEA PETROCHEMICALS DMEA

SPDC signs gas delivery

deal with Dangote Fertiliser

AFRICA SHELL Petroleum Development Co. (SPDC), that the deal would allow Dangote Fertiliser to
a joint venture between Shell (UK) and three reduce its gas bill by about $1.8bn per year.
other oil companies, has struck a deal on natu- Dangote described the GSAA as a boon for
ral gas deliveries to the second phase of Dangote his company, saying it would bolster Dangote
Fertiliser, a new fertiliser manufacturing facility Fertiliser’s finances, as well as Nigeria’s domestic
owned by the Dangote Group. (Gas is a crucial fertiliser production capacity.
raw material for fertiliser production.) “This additional gas will help bring in more
In a statement released on Wednesday foreign exchange into the country, especially
(March 2), SPDC reported that it had finalised with the current energy crisis,” he commented.
a gas sale and aggregation agreement (GSAA) “With our fertiliser plant, Notore, and Indorama,
with Dangote Fertiliser during the ongoing we are second in Africa. Apart from Egypt, no
Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in other African country has our capacity.”
Abuja. Okunbor, for his part, called the deal “hugely
It said the ceremony marking the signing important to this country.”
of the deal had been attended by the Dangote He added: “Dangote produces the bulk of fer-
Group’s President Aliko Dangote, as well as Mele tiliser [consumed in Nigeria], and we know how
Kyari, the group managing director of Nigerian important the subject of agriculture is – and for
National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), and SPDC’s not just energy security, but also food security.
Managing Director Osagie Okunbor, who also This is why all of us on the SPDC JV ... [are] really
serves as Shell’s country director for Nigeria. pleased to be able to execute this agreement.”
The GSAA is designed to help Dangote Fer- Kyari, meanwhile, pointed out that the agree-
tiliser ramp up production at the second phase ment between SPDC and Dangote Fertiliser
of its plant. was also in line with Abuja’s ongoing efforts to
This facility already accounts for 65% of encourage consumption of domestically pro-
Nigeria’s domestic fertiliser production and is duced gas.
the largest granulated urea fertiliser complex in “As you may be aware, it is [the] government’s
Africa. Nevertheless, it is likely to see output go drive to ensure that we become self-sufficient in
even higher and achieve greater security with the production of fertiliser in the country and
respect to its supply chain as a result of the deal specifically for this year’s zero import of fertilis-
with SPDC, which provides for the delivery of ation in the country,” he remarked.
70mn cubic feet (1.98mn cubic metres) per day SPDC’s shareholders are Shell, NNPC, Eni
of gas. (Italy) and TotalEnergies (France). Shell is look-
As of press time, the parties had not said when ing to unload its 30% stake in the joint venture,
they expected gas deliveries to the second phase which operates 19 onshore oil and gas licences in
of the plant to begin. SPDC did state, though, southern Nigeria. ™

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