Shell Denies Abandoning New Bonga Project

The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) has denied recent reports that it has stopped the development of the strategic Bonga South West/Aparo (BSWA) project due to the slump in international oil price.
In a statement signed by Shell’s Corporate Media Relations Manager, Precious Okolobo, and made available to The Tide, SNEPCo restated its commitment to the implementation of the BSWA project, designed to boost oil and gas production to increase national revenue generation capacity.
The statement quoted Managing Director, SNEPCo, Tony Attah, as saying: “We can confirm that we are currently progressing the tender for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts to support the project.”
He added that, “Although, the process has encountered some delays, we are optimistic for a final investment decision in the 2015/16 timeframe under the right conditions.”
The Tide learnt that the BSWA project includes the construction of a new floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility with an expected peak production of 225,000 barrels of oil per day.
The Tide investigations show that BSWA field straddles Oil Mining Leases (OML) 118, OML132 and OML140.
It would be recalled that SNEPCo is the unit operator of the BSWA Unitisation project pursuant to a pre-unit agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Ltd (EEPNDL), Total E&P Nigeria Ltd (TEPNL), Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd (NAOC), Texaco Nigeria Outer Shelf Ltd (TNOSL), Star Ultra Deep Petroleum Ltd (SUDPL), Sasol Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd (SEPNL) and Oil and Gas Nigeria Ltd (OGNL).
The Bonga project itself, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, is Nigeria’s first deep-water development in water depths over 1,000 metres.
In 2014, SNEPCo also started oil production at the Bonga North West deep-water development, with the oil transported by a new undersea pipeline to the existing Bonga FPSO and export facility.
In November, 2014, SNEPCo announced plans to drill eight more wells in the Bonga field in the third phase of the Bonga main development.
Since it began production about 10 years ago, Bonga has produced over 500 million barrels of oil, and has also managed a robust gas unitization and monetization programme aimed at upping the nation’s foreign exchange earnings and overall revenue base to drive sustainable development.

Nelson Chukwudi

Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari (right) reviewing a document with the ministry’s outgoing Permanent Secretary, Mrs Cordelia Peteside, during the 2015 thanksgiving service, yesterday in Port Harcourt. Photo:Prince Dele Obinna