Shell looking into projects inside Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria — Royal Dutch Shell PLC is considering $4 billion worth of onshore projects in Nigeria to help capture natural gas currently burning at oil wells that contribute to global warming and can sicken those living nearby, the company’s chief executive officer said last week.

Peter Voser also said Shell’s oil production rose to about 800,000 barrels a day in 2011, up after years of militant activity in the country’s Niger Delta cut into output.

Shell long has been the dominant foreign oil company operating in crude-rich Nigeria. Voser said the investments in natural gas would support efforts by the company to cut down on the gas fires, known as flaring.

“We expect these to be completed in the 2014 to 2015 time frame, subject to approval by partners and the security situation,” Voser said.

Environmentalists describe flaring as one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases that they say cause global warming. Those living in the Niger Delta say the burning contributes to acid rain and causes respiratory illnesses. Flaring leaves their fishing villages bathed in light at all hours and kills the fish living in the creeks and swamps of the 20,000-square mile delta.

Nigeria flared off 536.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2010 alone, second only to Russia, according to World Bank estimates.

Oil production at oil fields run by Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary, in partnership with the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., has risen in recent years as well.

Nigeria, which produces about 2.4 million of barrels of oil a day, is a top crude oil supplier to the U.S.