AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell has started gas production from the second phase of the Gbaran-Ubie project in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, the company said on Wednesday.

The project is an expansion of the Gbaran-Ubie development, which opened in June 2010.

Shell, through its Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria subsidiary, said the project would reach peak production of around 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2019.

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria is the operator of a Nigerian joint venture between state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Total E&P Nigeria and ENI subsidiary Nigerian Agip Oil Company.