Technology drives Nigeria’s Bonga oil operations success – SNEPCo MD

Elohor Aiboni, Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Company Ltd. (SNEPCo), has attributed the success of Nigeria’s Bonga oil operations to effective leadership, cutting-edge technology, and continuous technology improvement.

Aiboni said that continuous integrated delivery and collaboration with partners and stakeholders also contributed to the company’s success story.

She said this at the ongoing 2024 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) on Thursday in Houston, Texas, U.S.

The SNEPC boss said that since coming on stream in November 2005, Bonga had maintained a track record of production that saw it achieve one-billion-barrel export on Feb. 13 last year.

In her presentation, “The Bonga Journey to a Billion Barrels,” Aiboni said: “SNEPCo is grateful for the contributions of all the parties to the Bonga story and we can all be proud of the milestones.

“Bonga has been consistent. In 2014, nine years after coming on stream, it achieved half a billion barrels of crude and doubled it in 2023.

“We have worked relentlessly to ensure excellent asset management, project and well delivery, and deployment of technology and innovations in our operations.

“These factors were with the supportive partnership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. and its co-venturers, TotalEnergies, EP Nigeria Ltd., and Nigerian Agip Exploration.

“Others like Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited make Bonga stand out as a world-class investment case.”

She further said that SNEPCo also enjoyed the support of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in the success of Bonga operations.

Aiboni listed the challenges of keeping the Bonga floating production, storage, and offloading vessel full as the asset ages and dealing with unexpected developments with subsea wells and equipment.

“SNEPCo responded with a campaign of operational excellence, which, among other initiatives, led to the creation of a programme known as the Bonga Business Improvement Plan.

“This continually reviews and identifies improvement initiatives and drives sustainability in operations and upskilling of staff.

“The Bonga success story has been led by Nigerians who have been managing directors of SNEPCo since it was established in 1993, in a deliberate policy by Shell to develop indigenous manpower for deep-water operations in Nigeria.

“Today, some 97 percent of the SNEPCo workforce is Nigerian, and overall, Bonga has helped to create a new generation of Nigerian deep-water professionals.

“Our vision at SNEPCo remains to be the best deep-water business, powering growth and achieving net zero emissions in line with Shell’s Powering Progress strategy,” she said.