Shell Kicks Off Turnaround Maintenance at 225,000bpd Bonga FPSO to Extend Asset’s Life

Peter Uzoho

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) has commenced a turnaround maintenance activity at the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.

The company announced this yesterday in a statement signed by its Communications Manager, Gladys Afam-Anadu.SNEPCo explained the exercise was a statutory and integrity assurance programme aimed at extending the life of the facility.“The schedule maintenance activity is designed to ensure the FPSO continues to operate safely and efficiently for the next 15 years, while reducing unplanned deferments and strengthening the asset’s overall resilience,” SNEPCo Managing Director, Ronald Adams, said, adding: “We expect to resume operations in March following the completion of the turnaround.”

The Shell subsidiary said the scope of work includes statutory inspections, certification and regulatory compliance checks, major asset – integrity upgrades as well as engineering modifications to improve long-term operations and subsea assurance activities.The FPSO located approximately 120 km offshore in water depths exceeding 1,000 meters, has the capacity to produce 225,000 barrels of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day of gas.They noted that maintaining the integrity of this critical national asset was essential to supporting stable production and Nigeria’s wider energy, security and revenue objectives.

According to the statement, this year’s turnaround comes at a strategic moment for SNEPCo and its co‑venture partners.In 2024, the partners took Final Investment Decision (FID) on Bonga North, a subsea tie‑back development that will depend on the reliability and enhanced capacity of the Bonga FPSO.

SNEPCo said a successful turnaround maintenance was therefore essential to preparing the facility for the additional volumes and operational demands associated with the new development.The last turnaround maintenance activity on the FPSO took place in October 2022.

On February 1, the following year, the asset delivered its 1 billionth barrel of oil since production commenced in 2005.SNEPCo operates the Bonga field in partnership with Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, under a Production Sharing Contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).