SNEPCo Begins Turnaround Maintenance at Bonga FPSO to Extend Asset Life

ByNewsmakers

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Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO)

Segun Atanda/

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) has commenced a comprehensive turnaround maintenance (TAM) programme on the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, as part of statutory and asset-integrity assurance requirements aimed at extending the facility’s operational life.

According to SNEPCo, the scheduled maintenance is designed to ensure the FPSO continues to operate safely and efficiently for at least the next 15 years, while reducing unplanned production deferments and strengthening the asset’s overall resilience.

Speaking on the programme, SNEPCo Managing Director, Ronald Adams, said the exercise underscored the company’s commitment to operational excellence and long-term value creation.

“The scheduled 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,” Adams said. “We expect to resume operations in March following the successful completion of the turnaround.”
The scope of work covers statutory inspections, certification and regulatory compliance checks, major asset-integrity upgrades, and engineering modifications to enhance long-term operations, alongside critical subsea assurance activities.

Located approximately 120 kilometres offshore Nigeria in water depths exceeding 1,000 metres, the Bonga FPSO has a production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

Maintaining the integrity of this strategic offshore asset is vital to sustaining stable production levels and supporting Nigeria’s broader energy security and revenue objectives.

The 2026 turnaround maintenance comes at a strategically significant moment for SNEPCo and its co-venture partners. In 2024, the partners reached Final Investment Decision (FID) on Bonga North, a subsea tie-back development that will rely heavily on the reliability and enhanced capacity of the Bonga FPSO. A successful TAM is therefore critical to preparing the facility for the additional production volumes and operational demands associated with the new development.

The previous turnaround maintenance on the FPSO was carried out in October 2022. On February 1, 2023, the Bonga asset achieved a major milestone by delivering its one-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).