Despite claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that the implementation of the Bonga South West other deepwater projects were under threat owing to the fall in the price of crude oil, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) has said that the implementation of the SNEPCO-operated Bonga South West/Aparo (BSWA) project is still on course.
The Managing Director of SNEPCo, Mr. Tony Attah, said in a statement yesterday said “We can confirm that we are currently progressing the tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts to support the project.
“Although, the process has encountered some delays, we are optimistic of a final investment decision in the 2015/16 timeframe under the right conditions.”
The Bonga project which is Nigeria’s first deep-water development in water depths of over 1,000 metres has produced over 500 million barrels of oil since it began producing oil in 2005.
The BSWA project includes the construction of a new Floating Production, Storage and Offloading facility with an expected peak production of 225,000 barrels per day.
SNEPCo is the unit operator of the BSWA unitisation project in line with a pre-Unit agreement between the NNPC, Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited, Total E&P Nigeria Limited, Texaco Nigeria Outer Shelf Limited, Star Ultra Deep Petroleum Limited, Sasol Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, and Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited.