Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company has given US-based Halliburton an integrated drilling contract to work on the oil major’s $2 billion shallow-water HI offshore gas project in Nigeria.
According to reports, the financial terms of the deal, awarded by Shell, were not disclosed.
Halliburton, based in Houston, said it will deploy remote operations and automated technologies for the work.
In October, Shell announced HI, located in Nigeria’s Oil Mining Licence (OML) 144. The UK major operates the HI project with a 40 per cent working interest alongside its local partner, Sunlink Energies and Resources, which owns a 60 per cent stake.
The project, when completed, will supply 350 million standard cubic feet (approximately 60 thousand barrels of oil equivalent) of gas per day at peak production to Nigeria LNG (NLNG; Shell interest 25.6 per cent), which produces and exports liquefied natural gas (LNG) to global markets.
According to a statement, production is expected to begin before the end of this decade.
At the time of the announcement, Mr Peter Costello, Shell’s Upstream President, said that “This Upstream project will help Shell grow our leading Integrated Gas portfolio, while supporting Nigeria’s plans to become a more significant player in the global LNG market.”
The gas will be sent to the delayed Train 7 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) plant, currently being built by a Saipem-led consortium.
The increase in feedstock to NLNG, via the Train 7 project that aims to expand the Bonny Island terminal’s production capacity, is in line with Shell’s plans to grow its global LNG volumes by an average of 4-5 per cent per year until 2030.