Leading energy company, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and its joint venture partners – Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC), Totalenergies EP Nigeria Limited, and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) – 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.

SPDC’s Managing Director, and Country Chair, Shell companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, described the agreement asa 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’.

•PHOTO: L-R; Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Mele Kolo Kyari; Managing Director, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and Country Chair, Shell companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor; President and Chief Executive, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; and Managing Director, ENI companies in Nigeria, Roberto Daniele, at the signing of a multi-million dollar Gas Sales Aggregation Agreement between the SPDC Joint Venture and Dangote Fertiliser Company in Abuja... on Wednesday.