Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) has completed the final phase of its 20 km domestic gas pipeline expansion project in Abia State, connecting industrial zones in Agbor Hill, Osisioma and Araria
The project has also enabled Ariaria Market Energy Solutions Limited, the independent power project (IPP) consortium providing electricity to the popular Ariaria market in Abia State, to supply pipeline gas as well. Ariaria International Market is one of West Afric’s largest leather shoe-making and open stall markets, with over 37,000 stores and an estimated one million traders.
Ed Ubong, SNG managing director, said, “SNG is committed to supporting Nigeria's industrialisation, provided the domestic gas sector has a stable regulatory environment that allows investors to recover their investments.”
Mansur Ahmed, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said, “Industries and manufacturing plants play a major role in transforming the Nigerian economy and this project will connect many manufacturers in Abia State, one of the nation’s major industrial hubs, to pipeline gas, which is a cheaper, cleaner and more reliable source of energy.
According to Ahmed, supplying gas to the Ariaria Market IPP would strengthen micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the Abia State and enhance the manufacturing operating environment to thrive.
SNG together with its partners and local stakeholders has agreements to build infrastructure and deliver natural gas more than over 150 industrial and commercial customers, mostly in Ogun, Abia, Rivers, Bayelsa and Lagos States. This will drive industrialisation, provide employment for skilled and unskilled local population in addition to directly improving internally generated revenues in these states.
