Shell has declared intention to deploy a second production floater in the operated deepwater Bonga fields, ending speculations of possible tie-in of production from contiguous to existing Bonga floating production, storage and offtake (FPSO) vessel which has produced about a billion barrels of oil from Bonga Main oilfield.
The company’s deepwater affiliate which operates production sharing agreement (PSA) with the government of Nigeria, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) Limited, declared on Tuesday that it has concluded development plans that would involve a separate FPSO for Bonga Southwest and Aparo (BSWA) fields.
The Managing Director of SNEPCO, Mrs Elohor Aiboni, stated at the 2023 Sub-Sahara Africa International Petroleum Conference (SAIPEC) in Lagos that apart from extending the field life of Bonga Main FPSO to tie-in production from Bonga North oilfield, the company is also working to moor a separate floating producer for the imminent BWSA development planned to happen in the operated license acreage.
Mrs Aiboni’s remarks were delivered at the industry leadership panel session at the conference by the company’s General Manager in charge of Deepwater operations at Bonga Main and North, Mr Iyke Nnoaham.
The plan for another production vessel for the Bonga fields in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118 oil block was made open at the conference at a time the company also announced that the 17 year old Bonga FPSO which began production at Bonga Main has reached the billion barrel mark; exceeding the initially estimated reserves volume of about 480 million barrels by over 100 percent.
Media Relations Manager, Abimbola Essien-Nelson, quoted Mrs Aiboni as describing the pumping of billionth barrel as “an exciting milestone.”
The Bonga FPSO vessel which began operations in 2005 is anchored 120 kilometres offshore Niger Delta in the Gulf of Guinea.
Shell operates the Bonga Oil Block in OML 118 in partnership with TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Agip Oil Company, and Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited. The NNPC Limited remains the concessionaire of the block.
“We are building a leading safe, simpler and cost-disciplined deep-water business that brings value to our partners, shareholders and Nigeria which remains a heartland for Shell,” she said.
The Bonga FPSO vessel has enjoyed significant expansion over the years with the further drilling of wells in Bonga Phases 2 and 3 and through a subsea tie-back that unlocked the nearby Bonga Northwest field in August 2014.
Bonga Northwest can produce approximately 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day and was named Engineering Project of the Year 2015 at the prestigious Platts Global Energy Awards in New York, Shell said.
Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor, attributed attainment of the billion-barrel milestone to the resilience, focus and dedication of the entire SNEPCo team, most of whom he said are Nigerians.
I feel a strong sense of pride knowing that today, over 95 per cent of SNEPCo staff, including those working on the Bonga FPSO, are trained Nigerian deep-water professionals, who daily contribute their quota, in the development of Nigeria’s deep-water hydrocarbon resources. The entire team should be incredibly proud of themselves,” Okunbor said.
In a congratulatory message to SNEPCo and its co-venture partners, the Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPC’s Nigeria Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS), Bala Wunti, said: “The many successes recorded by Bonga have continued to trigger significant development in Nigeria’s deep-water oil and gas exploration and production, for which reason the place of Bonga in Nigeria’s upstream DNA cannot be overemphasised.”
At SAIPEC 2023, Mr Nnoaham told delegates that despite the slow process in taking investment decisions on the development of the new Bonga oilfields, SNEPCO has an advanced plan for production boost from operated deepwater fields in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118 oil block; pointing at already secured lease renewal and tweaking of the governing production sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
He did not attempt cost estimates for the multiple production lift and new development programmes. He did not also give estimates on the expected production volumes when all fields are online.
However industry deepwater development cost templates show that service providers with capacity for offshore operations stand to grab job packages totaling significant $12 billion on BSWA. When rehabilitation and tie-in of Bonga North is factored in, total budget for the field could approximate $18 billion.
