Yemisi Izuora
Royal Dutch, Shell deepwater, Bonga field, is scheduled to be shut for one month from mid-February, 2017 due to maintenance upgrade.
The maintenance work will impact the country’s production which is yet to attain the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ OPEC, allocated 2.2 million barrels per day.
The Bonga fields support the country’s oil capacity by 10 percent, with a production capacity of approximately 200,000 barrel of oil equivalence (boe) a day and 150 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas a day.
Already, crude oil loading for February has been reduced to three cargoes which is less than half the seven cargoes planned for January.
The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) located at Bonny Island receives gas from the Bonga development from where it is exported to European and global markets as LNG.
The field located in License block OML 118 off the Nigerian coast, covers approximately 60 km2 in an average water depth of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).
The field is operated by Shell Nigeria which owns 55 per cent of the license. Other partners in the field development are ExxonMobil (20 percent), Nigerian AGIP (12.5 percent) and Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited (12.5 percent).
The field covers approximately 60 km² in an average water depth of 1,000 metres.