SNEPCo’s Bonga FPSO hits 1bn barrel milestone

Nigeria’s first deep-water exploration and production vessel, Bonga, hit a one-billion-barrel oil export mark on Monday.

The Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd., (SNEPCo), Mrs Elohor Aiboni said this in a statement in Lagos.

Aiboni said that the milestone came three months after a major turnaround maintenance (TAM) of the facility was completed ahead of schedule.

She described the milestone as a celebration of excellence, leadership and focused delivery that had brought significant benefits to Nigeria and Nigerians.

Aiboni, SNEPCo’s first female Managing Director said, “One billion barrels is an exciting milestone,

“I’m incredibly proud of all of our employees and contractors who have contributed to the success of the Bonga FPSO and the attainment of this remarkable achievement.”

Aiboni also attributed the success of Bonga to the supportive partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., and SNEPCo’s co-venturers.

They include TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Ltd., Nigerian Agip Oil Company, and Esso Exploration Production Nigeria Ltd.

“Bonga, a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which began operations in 2005, is anchored 120 kilometres offshore in the Gulf of Guinea and has consistently delivered value in national revenue.

“Local capacity development of Nigerian engineers and funding support to the service industry, in addition to its many social investment programmes in health, education and sport,” she added.

According to Aiboni, the integrated delivery approach, continuous improvement and the support lever, offered by the technological prowess of the Shell Group, are the pillars of SNEPCo’s excellence delivery.

“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.

Speaking on the Bonga billion-barrel milestone, the Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, commended the resilience, focus and dedication of the entire SNEPCo team, most of whom 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, Chief Upstream Investment Officer of NNPC’s Nigeria Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS), Bala Wunti, said that successes recorded by Bonga had continued to trigger significant development in Nigerian’s deep-water oil and gas exploration and production.

According to him, “This is the reason the place of Bonga in Nigeria’s upstream DNA cannot be overemphasised.”