Nigerian energy company Shoreline has signed a $300 million agreement with the local unit of Shell to develop gas infrastructure around the commercial capital, Lagos, both companies said on Monday.

Shell said in June that it would place more emphasis on gas rather than oil in the West African country, which has the world’s ninth-largest proven gas reserves at 187 trillion cubic feet.

Shoreline said the agreement was to develop, buy, market, distribute and sell natural gas in the Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Epe districts – areas that contain the city’s business hub and some of the country’s most expensive residential properties.

It said the agreement provided exclusive rights to distribute and sell gas in those areas.

“The partnership is a significant boost to the gas supply efforts of the Federal and Lagos State governments and will deliver tangible benefits to companies and households in Lagos,” said Shoreline’s chairman, Kola Karim.

A spokesman for Shell’s Nigeria subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, said the company was “exploring a downstream gas opportunity” in partnership with Shoreline. (Reuters)