By NATHAN NWAKAMMA

Nigeria’s first deep-water exploration and production vessel, Bonga, hit a one-billion-barrel oil export mark on Monday.

This is contained in a statement issued by Mrs Abimbola Essien-Nelson,Media Relations Manager at Shell.

The company said this milestone is coming three months after a major turnaround maintenance (TAM) of the facility was completed ahead of schedule.

The statement quoted Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), Mrs Elohor Aiboni, as describing the milestone as a celebration of excellence, leadership and focused delivery that has brought significant benefits to Nigeria and Nigerians.

“One billion barrels is an exciting milestone,” said Aiboni, SNEPCo’ s first female Managing Director.

“I’m incredibly proud of all of our employees and contractors who’ve contributed to the success of the Bonga FPSO and the attainment of this remarkable achievement.”

Aiboni also attributed the success of Bonga to the supportive partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and SNEPCo’s co-venturers – TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Agip Oil Company, and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited.

The News Agency of Nigeria (aNAN) reports that Bonga, a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel with a capacity to produce 225,000 barrels per day began operations in 2005 and is anchored 120km offshore with Nigerian territorial waters

The oil firm said the facility which can store up to two million barrels of processed crude has consistently delivered value in national revenue, local capacity development of Nigerian engineers and funding support to the service industry, in addition to its many social investment programmes in health, education and sports.

According to Aiboni, the integrated delivery approach, continuous improvement and the support lever offered by the technological prowess of the Shell Group are the pillars of SNEPCo’s excellence delivery.

“We are building a leading safe, simpler and cost-disciplined deep-water business that brings value to our partners, shareholders and Nigeria which remains a heartland for Shell,” she said.

The Bonga FPSO vessel has enjoyed significant expansion over the years with the further drilling of wells in Bonga Phases Ii and III and through a subsea tie-back that unlocked the nearby Bonga Northwest field in August 2014.

According to the company, Bonga Northwest can produce approximately 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day and was named Engineering Project of the Year 2015 at the prestigious Platts Global Energy Awards in New York.

On the Bonga billion-barrel milestone, the Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor, commended the resilience, focused and dedication of the entire SNEPCo team, most of whom are Nigerians.

“I feel a strong sense of pride knowing that today, over 95 per cent of SNEPCo staff, including those working on the Bonga FPSO, are trained Nigerian deep-water professionals, who daily contribute their quota, in the development of Nigeria’s deep-water hydrocarbon resources.

“The entire team should be incredibly proud of themselves,” Okunbor said. (NAN)

Update news