Olufemi Adeyemi
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Mrs. Elohor Aiboni , Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited |
Bonga, Nigeria’s first deep-water asset has helped to create a new generation of Nigerian deep-water professionals, the Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Company Limited (SNEPCo), Elohor Aiboni, said.
She further stated that Bonga recorded major milestones due to
effective leadership, cutting-edge technology, continuous improvement, and
collaboration with stakeholders.
Elohor noted that since coming on stream in November 2005,
Bonga has maintained a track record of production that saw it achieve
one-billion-barrel export on February 13 last year.
In her presentation, The Bonga Journey to a Billion Barrels,
at the ongoing 2024 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, United
States, Aiboni said: “SNEPCo is grateful for the contributions of all the
parties to the Bonga story, and we can all be proud of the milestones.
“Bonga has been consistent. In 2014, nine years after coming
onstream, it achieved half a billion barrels of crude and doubled it in 2023.
We have worked relentlessly to ensure excellent asset management, project and
well delivery, and deployment of technology and innovations in our operations.”
According to her, these factors, “coupled with the
supportive partnership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and
our co-venturers – TotalEnergies, EP Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Agip
Exploration, and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited—make Bonga
stand out as a world-class investment case.”
She said: “SNEPCo also enjoyed the support of the Nigerian
Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Content
Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in the success of Bonga operations.”
Aiboni also listed the challenges of keeping the Bonga
Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading vessel full as the asset ages and
dealing with unexpected developments with subsea wells and equipment.
She said: “SNEPCo responded with a campaign of operational
excellence, which, among other initiatives, led to the creation of a programme
known as the Bonga Business Improvement Plan that continually reviews and
identifies improvement initiatives and drives sustainability in operations and
upskilling of staff.
“The Bonga success story has been led by Nigerians who have
been managing directors of SNEPCo since it was established in 1993, in a
deliberate policy by Shell to develop indigenous manpower for deep-water
operations in Nigeria.
Today, some 97% of the SNEPCo workforce is Nigerian, and
overall, Bonga has helped to create a new generation of Nigerian deep-water
professionals.”
“Our vision at SNEPCo remains to be the best deep-water business, powering growth and achieving net zero emissions in line with Shell’s Powering Progress strategy”, Aiboni added.
Bonga is the first deep-water project for the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) and for Nigeria.
The discovery well is located in oil prospecting license (OPL) 212, which was awarded during Nigeria’s first round of deep-water frontier acreage awards in 1993.
SNEPCO operates the field on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its partners under a production sharing contract.
Crude oil production from the field started in November 2005 and the first shipment from the field was made in February 2006.
The field underwent its fourth turnaround maintenance (TAM) in 2017 and delivered 819 million barrels of oil by the end of 2018.
In 2023, Bonga hit a 1-billion-barrel oil export mark. This milestone comes three months after a major turnaround maintenance (TAM) of the facility was completed ahead of schedule.