Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) has announced the start-up of production from the Bonga Phase 3 project
Bonga Phase 3 is an expansion of the Bonga Main development, with peak production expected to be about 50,000 boe. This will be transported through existing pipelines to the Bonga floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, which has the capacity to produce more than 200,000 barrels of oil and 150mn scfd of gas.
Andrew Brown, upstream international director at Shell, said, “This new start-up is another important milestone for Bonga, adding valuable new production to this major facility.”
The 60 sq km Bonga field, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, was Nigeria’s first deep-water development in depths of more than 1,000 metres. Bonga has produced more than 600mn barrels of oil since then.
The Bonga project is operated by SNEPCo as contractor under a production sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, which holds the lease for OML 118 in which the Bonga field is located. SNEPCo holds a 55 per cent contractor interest in OML 118. The other co-venturers are Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria (20 per cent), Total E&P Nigeria (12.5 per cent) and Nigerian Agip Exploration (12.5 per cent).
The news comes soon after Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria, an ExxonMobil subsidiary, announced the starting of production from Erha North Phase 2 project offshore Nigeria.
