Elohor’s leadership propels Shell Nigeria’s Bonga FPSO to historic heights
Engr. Elohor Juliana Aiboni is the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company (SNEPCo).
She joined Shell in 2002, and before her appointment as SNEPCo MD, she was the Asset Manager for the Shallow and Deep-Water Assets for Shell in Nigeria.
Elohor was named Managing Director of SNEPCo in 2021, the first female in the top job.
Under her leadership, SNEPCo has continued to break new grounds at Bonga, Nigeria’s first deep-water production. Bonga, which began production in 2005, achieved a 1-billion-barrel oil export mark in February 2023.
She was incredibly proud of all SNEPCo employees and contractors and commended them for the success of the Bonga FPSO and the attainment of the remarkable achievement.
Looking back on the time she has been in the role, Elohor said, “The experience has been challenging but exciting.”
“It has been an honour leading a team of dedicated professionals who continue to safely produce oil and gas in a complex geographical zone, delivering value to stakeholders.”
She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Benin and a Master’s degree in Integrated Environmental Management from the University of Bath, UK. She is a Fellow at the Energy Institute (EI), the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (FNSChE) and the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE). Elohor also sits on several boards in the oil and gas sector including the Women in Energy, Nigeria (WIEN).
Aiboni has many firsts to her credit — from being the first female asset operations manager in SNEPCo to being the company’s first female MD.
As asset operations manager, Aiboni was responsible for providing leadership in health, safety and environment (HSE), operational excellence and overall asset management of the Bonga deepwater floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel operated by Shell in Nigeria.
The Bonga FPSO vessel has a total production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day and 150 standard cubic feet of gas export per day.
The height of a 12-storey building, and spanning an area the size of three football fields, the FPSO explores for and extracts oil from more than 1,000 metres below sea level.
