SNEPCO Begins Oil Production At Bonga North-West

Shell’s deep-water
subsidiary in Nigeria, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), has commenced oil production from the first well at the Bonga North-West deep-water development offshore Warri in Delta State, another milestone for the country’s energy industry.
In a statement, Shell Nigeria’s Corporate Media Relations Manager, Precious Okolobo, quoted Shell’s Upstream International Director, Andrew Brown, as saying that, “This is an excellent addition to our deep-water portfolio – a key growth theme for Shell’s world-wide upstream business.
“It’s also good news for Nigeria, as it is a new source of oil revenues and strengthens Nigeria’s deep-water expertise, a key driver of economic development.”
The Bonga project, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, was Nigeria’s first deep-water development in water depths over 1,000 metres, while the Bonga North-West represents a significant step forward for the project.
The statement indicated that “oil from the Bonga North-West sub-sea facilities is transported by a new undersea pipeline to the existing Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) export facility.
“The Bonga FPSO has been upgraded to handle the additional oil flow from Bonga North-West which, at peak production, is expected to contribute 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, helping to maintain the facility’s overall output.
“Four oil producing wells and two water injection wells in the Bonga North-West development will be connected to the FPSO, from where oil is loaded onto tankers for shipping around the world,” Okolobo said.
The Bonga North-West project is part of Shell’s long-standing commitment to developing deep-water engineering skills in Nigeria. The investments made by SNEPCo and its other project partners in the Bonga North-West project include upgrades of local contractors’ facilities and providing specialised training for Nigerians to work in the energy industry.
The Bonga project is operated by SNEPCo, which holds a 55 per cent stake. The other project partners are Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited (20 per cent), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (12.5 per cent) and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (12.5 per cent) under a Production Sharing Contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The Tide recalls that a number of new production manifolds, subsea umbilical systems, oil production and water injection flowlines and subsea tree systems were installed on the sea bed around 1,000 metres below the surface.
A significant part of the project was carried out by Nigerian companies, including a local contractor that fabricated and installed the FPSO topsides.
The project leadership and majority of staff working on the Bonga North-West project are Nigerian – testament to the growth of deep-water engineering experience in SNEPCo.