Shell Nigeria announces progress on $20 billion Bonga South West Oilfield

Bola Tinubu, Nigeria's President, has approved "investment linked" incentives for Shell’s Bonga South West Deepwater Oilfield. This follows a meeting between the CEO of the company Wael Sawan and the Nigerian president. Wael Sawan indicated that the project could be greenlit in 2027.

The incentives proposed are part of a series of regulatory reforms that have been implemented in Africa's largest crude oil producer in order to attract investments to boost oil and gas production.

Tinubu, in a late-night statement on Thursday night, said that "these incentives are not concessions for all."

His office did not provide any further details on the incentive program. His office has not provided any further information on the incentives.

Tinubu said, "My expectation is that Bonga South West must make a final decision on investment within the first year of this administration."

INVESTMENT RESULTS ARE VERY LIKELY TO BE MADE BY 2027

Shell's Sawan stated that he hopes to bring Bonga South West up to a final decision on investment in 2027. This could be around $20 billion of investments by Shell and its partners.

Sawan added that Shell was interested in Nigeria's exploration licence round.

Sawan stated that Shell has invested $5 billion into Bonga North in the past year and $2 billion into the HI gas project feeding Nigeria LNG.

Shell made a final decision in?2024 on the Bonga North project, as it wanted to maintain production at its Bonga?floating storage and offloading facilities.

Shell bought a stake in TotalEnergies last year, increasing its share of the Bonga oilfield from 45% to 65%. This shows its interest in Nigerian offshore production even after selling its onshore assets. Bonga is also owned by ExxonMobil and ENI. (Reporting and editing by Alexander Winning; Shadia Nasralla, London; Ronojoy Mazumdar in New York; Jan Harvey, Susan Fenton, Alexander Winning)

(source: Reuters)