Lagos, Nigeria | The Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), Mr. Tony Attah, said in a statement yesterday that the company had not stopped the Bonga South West development due to the global slump in oil prices.
“We can confirm that we are currently progressing the tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts to support the project. Although, the process has encountered some delays, we are optimistic of a final investment decision in the 2015/16 timeframe under the right conditions,” Attah said.
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 per day. The BSWA field straddles Oil Mining Leases (OML) 118, OML 132 and OML 140.
This is contrary to the claims by the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Joseph Dawha that the implementation of the Bonga South West and two other deepwater projects were under threat owing to the decline in the price of crude oil.
Joseph Dawha , had at a recent Offshore West Africa conference in Lagos stated that many companies faced cash flow challenges as a result of the decline in oil prices. The GMD said a number of deepwater projects would suffer delays or outright cancellation, citing one in Angola, three in Nigeria, including Bonga South West and one in Ghana.
SNEPCo is the unit operator of the BSWA unitisation project in line with a pre-Unit agreement between the NNPC, Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited, Total E&P Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, Texaco Nigeria Outer Shelf Limited, Star Ultra Deep Petroleum Limited, Sasol Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, and Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited.
The Bonga project itself, which has produced over 500 million barrels of oil since it began producing oil in 2005, is Nigeria’s first deep-water development in water depths of over 1,000 metres.
SNEPCo in 2014 started oil production at the Bonga North West deepwater development, with the oil transported by a new undersea pipeline to the existing Bonga FPSO and export facility.
Also in November 2014, SNEPCo announced plans to drill eight more wells in the Bonga field in the third phase of the Bonga Main development.
