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Nigeria’s crude oil production is expected to rise by 40,000 barrels per day, as Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited, SNEPCo, yesterday commenced production from the first well at the Bonga North West deep-water development offshore Nigeria.
This translates to a crude earnings of N672 million accruable to the country on a daily basis.
Shell, in a statement stated that the Bonga Floating Production, Storage and Offloading, FPSO, vessel has been upgraded to handle the additional oil flow from Bonga North West.
According to the company, the investments made by it and its other project partners in the Bonga North West project include upgrades of local contractors’ facilities and providing specialised training for Nigerians to work in the energy industry.
Commenting on the development, Mr Andrew Brown, Upstream International Director, Shell says “it is also good news for Nigeria, as it is a new source of oil revenues and strengthens Nigeria’s deep-water expertise, a key driver of economic development.
“This is an excellent addition to our deep-water portfolio – a key growth theme for shell’s world-wide upstream business.
The company also noted that four oil producing wells and two water injection wells in the Bonga North West development will be connected to the FPSO, from where oil is loaded onto tankers for shipping around the world.
The Bonga project, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, was Nigeria’s first deep-water development in water depths over 1 000 metres.
Bonga North West represents a significant step forward for the project, as the company said oil from the sub-sea facilities is transported by a new undersea pipeline to the existing Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) export facility.
SNEPCO said the Bonga North West project is part of its long-standing commitment to developing deep-water engineering skills in Nigeria.
The Bonga project is operated by SNEPCo, which holds a 55 percent stake.
The other project partners are Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited (20 percent), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (12,5 percent) and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (12,5 percent) under a Production Sharing Contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
