Shell Nigeria cuts oil exports after maintenance is done on the Bonga vessel

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company announced on Sunday that it has started planned maintenance on its Bonga oil vessel. This'move' will temporarily reduce 'Nigeria’s oil export capacity by 225,000 barrels a day, but could prolong the asset's life.

The Bonga Floating Production, Storage and Offloading Unit, Nigeria's First Deepwater?Project, is located 120 km off shore in water depths of over?1,000 meters. It can produce up to 150 millions standard?cubic foot of gas each day.

Ronald Adams, SNEPCo's Managing Director, said that the work - which included statutory inspections and regulatory checks as well as major integrity upgrades,?and engineering modifications,?was intended to keep the facility operating safely and efficiently for the next 15 years.

Adams stated that "we expect to resume our operations in March after the turnaround is completed."

SNEPCo, along with its partners, is advancing Bonga North - a new subsea tying back project that was approved in 2024. This project will depend 'on the FPSOs increased capacity and reliability for handling additional production volumes.

The vessel's last turnaround took place in October of 2022. After starting production in 2005, the FPSO 'delivered' its billionth barrel of oil on February 1, 2023.

SNEPCo operates the Bonga?in collaboration with Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd and Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd, under a production sharing contract with state oil company NNPC Ltd.

(source: Reuters)