Olusola Bello
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and its joint venture partners on Wednesday signed an agreement for a daily supply of 70 million standard cubic feet of gas to Dangote Fertiliser Company to boost production and for local and export purposes.
Other joint venture partners are Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC), Totalenergies EP Nigeria Limited, and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC).
Osagie Okunbor, SPDC’s managing director, and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, described the agreement as a significant step in supporting the Nigerian government’s agriculture policy for food security. “Dangote Fertiliser Limited currently produces the bulk of Nigeria’s fertiliser and this agreement will greatly enable the company’s capacity.”
Dangote Fertiliser Company boasts Africa’s largest granulated urea fertiliser complex and produces around 65 percent of Nigeria’s domestic fertiliser requirements.
Also speaking at the signing ceremony held as a key highlight of the ongoing 5th edition of the Nigerian International Energy Summit in Nigeria’s federal capital city of Abuja, NNPC’s Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kolo Kyari;Mele Kyari, general manager of NNPC, said the agreement would accelerate Nigeria’s journey to self-sufficiency in fertiliser production.
Kyari said, “It’s government’s drive to ensure that we become self-sufficient in the production of fertiliser in our country, and specifically for this year, it’s zero import of fertiliser into our country.”
President and Chief Executive, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, who signed the agreement on behalf of the company said the additional gas supply would ‘help us bring in more foreign exchange to Nigeria and confirm Nigeria’s position as the continent’s second largest producer of fertiliser’.
