Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) has begun a major turnaround maintenance programme on the Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, located about 120 kilometres offshore Nigeria in water depths of more than 1,000 metres.
The company said on Sunday that the work, which is expected to run until March, will temporarily halt production at the offshore field while statutory inspections and safety upgrades are carried out.
SNEPCo Managing Director Ronald Adams said the overhaul is designed to extend the operational life of the Bonga FPSO by at least 15 years and reduce the risk of unplanned shutdowns.
The maintenance will include regulatory compliance checks, asset-integrity upgrades, engineering modifications and subsea assurance activities aimed at strengthening long-term reliability.
Bonga is one of Nigeria’s most important deep-water assets, with a production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day and 150 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Shell said the timing of the maintenance is strategic following the final investment decision taken in 2024 on the Bonga North subsea tie-back project.
The new development is expected to add fresh volumes to the FPSO, making its reliability and enhanced capacity critical to future operations.
The last major maintenance on the vessel was completed in October 2022, and in February 2023 it produced its one-billionth barrel of oil since starting up in 2005.
SNEPCo operates the Bonga field alongside partners Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) and Nigerian Agip Exploration under a production-sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company.
Shell did not disclose how much output would be lost during the maintenance period, but said production is expected to resume once the work is completed in March.