The proposed extension of the Bonga Oil and Gas Field that is located in License block OPL 212 off the Nigerian coast has been postponed for two more years following a delay in the tendering process.
This was revealed by a senior official at the state oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC) that in May 2021 signed a deal with Shell Petroleum Development Company along with its partners giving the project, which had been shelved for quite a while due to a long-standing tax dispute a new impetus.
“After the dispute was resolved, Shell invited bids for the construction of new floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit for the Bonga Southwest deep-water oil field.”
“The response to the tender had however been underwhelming, and there has been a delay in progressing with the tendering process as a result. The tenders have therefore been put on hold till around 2024,” explained the official.
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There are also speculations that the delay could be a result of a change in Shell’s upstream strategy as part of its net-zero ambitions.
Bonga Oil and Gas Field production issues
Bonga Oil and Gas Field is Nigeria’s first deep-water oil field that was discovered back in 1996 and began the first production in November 2005 through an FPSO vessel. It currently has the capacity to produce 225,000 b/d of crude oil and 150 MMcf/d of gas that is fed to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) plant at Bonny.
Developing Bonga Southwest, which Shell planned to carry out in three phases, was set to add around 1 billion barrels to the West African country’s oil reserves. The output from the field was one of the projects Nigeria was banking on to raise production to around 3 million b/d by 2023.
What we reported in 2014
Anglo-Dutch Shell opens bid for Nigeria’s US$12bn Bonga South West project
Anglo-Dutch Shell oil and Gas Company has started the contract award process for the construction of Floating Production Storage and Offloading, FPSO for its US$12billion Bonga South West Aparo development in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Shell Deepwater General Manager Mr. Jerry Jackson stated that this single-point moored facility project is expected to be the world’s biggest FPSO and has Samsung and Hyundai as bidders.
Bonga is located in oil prospecting licence, OPL 212, and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO, operates the field on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The project is under a production sharing contract, PSC, in partnership with Esso 20 %, Nigeria Agip 12.5 %, and Total 12.5 %.
According to the OTC 2014 Journal, the oil major “already was known to be well underway with plans to develop its estimated US$12 billion Bonga South West-Aparo discovery via one new build FPSO vessel, with significant Nigerian content levels.
Bonga also lies 120km southwest of the Niger Delta in a water depth of over 1,000m.Former Managing Director, SNEPCO, Mr. Chike Onyejekwe, had once said that Shell achieved tremendous success in its Bonga deep water oil field, noting that as at December 2012, it had exported about 450 million barrels of crude oil.
The cost of the Bonga field development, including the cost of the FPSO vessel built in 2004, came to US$3.6bn. Despite the fact that the drilling of the 19 oil wells would amount to US$12.35bn, the Bonga extension project, according to Shell, may gulp around US$33bn.
The NNPC had in early 2013 directed International Oil Companies, IOCs, operating in the country to drastically cut over US$30bn proposed for new projects.
