After $5bn Bonga North, Shell to Take Bonga Southwest FID By 2027

•Local content opportunities swell  

•TotalEnergies’ optimistic about Ntokon FID, rallies FG, agencies

Peter Uzoho in Yenagoa

After sanctioning a $5 billion Bonga North deepwater project in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in December 2024, Shell yesterday, announced that it would be proceeding with a Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Bonga Southwest project by 2027.

The General Manager, Contracting and Procurement at Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), Mr. Charles Oranyeli, disclosed this in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State during his presentation at the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) 2025 organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

Similarly, TotalEnergies expressed optimism in taking an FID on its recently discovered oil field, Ntokon, saying it was currently in consultation with the federal government and the relevant agencies to make that happen.

The two oil majors made the announcements while showcasing the local content opportunities that abound in their projects, both the ones carried out in the past, the ones ongoing and the ones being expected, in line with the objective of the Nigerian  Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010.

The theme of the conference was, “Driving Investment and Production Growth: Shaping Sustainable Future for Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry through Indigenous Capacity Development.”

Reeling out his organisation’s projects in Nigeria, located on the oil mining lease (OML) 118, with immense local content opportunities, Oranyeli mentioned the Bonga Main, Bonga North and Bonga South West.

For Bonga Main, he said Shell wants to extend the life of the asset, which he said required carrying a Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) in the first quarter of 2026.

He added that the company would use the opportunity of the TAM to ensure that they deal with the critical systems that would allow Bonga to produce for another 15 years.

“So, we have a lot of opportunities around all the normal things we do in the turnaround maintenance.

“So, we’ll see a bit of the detail around these opportunities like security vessels, barges, hotels, and of course helicopter services,” Oranyeli said.

On OML 135, he said Shell was still in the feasibility phase, pointing out that there are great opportunities for local contractors in the project.

For shallow water projects expected between 2025 and 2030, he listed the H1 asset, which is located in OML 144 where Shell has a joint venture with Sunlink.

According to the general manager, the project holds huge job opportunities for local firms in such areas as drilling wells, wells re-entry among others, but we are actually leveraging existing infrastructure to ensure that.

Oranyeli further said, “So that’s also a good one for people who want to look at opportunities in the sector. So, where we are in terms of all our projects? Again, remember I talked about Bonga Main life extension.

“We need to ensure that within 15 years, we have our Bonga full, getting us back to even the 225,000 barrels of oil a day. And that’s why we have a lot of this further development opportunities, which we have matured.

“Like I said earlier, Bonga North Tranche 1, we’ve already taken FID, it’s now where we are trying to execute.

“Again, Bonga Southwest will take FID by 2027, and so we’re working all the concepts together to get it in.”

Also in his presentation at the conference, Deputy General Manager, Nigerian Content, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, Mr. Cyprian Ojum, said his company was optimistic of taking FID on its recently discovered oil field, Ntokon, saying the company was currently in consultation with the federal government and the relevant agencies to make that happen.

He said TotalEnergies has built its business on the platform supporting Nigerian content by providing opportunities companies that have proven capacity to deliver jobs for it.

He cited the Egina project, which he described as a jumbo project and the biggest in Africa that was hosted in Nigeria, with a record 67 per cent local content participation in building that project.

According to him, 67 per cent meant involving Nigerians, involving Nigerian-made goods, involving Nigerian top services, involving Nigerian procurement, involving Nigerian fabrication, construction, transportation and installation, and that’s a big win.

Ojum said TotalEnergies did not relent in its support for local content after the Egina project, as it proceeded to the Ikike project in 2019 until it came alive in 2021.

For Ikike, project, he said the company had 90 per cent local content participation and that four major contractors were Nigerians.

He also listed the Usan project which achieved 60 per cent of Nigerian Content participation in building of the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) as another mark of local content drive by the company.

“During our OML 58 upgrade, which was to upgrade the entire OML58 field, including the Ikike gas plant to make it more efficient, we achieved 90 per cent local participation, and then, the same thing with our Ofon phase 2 project.

“Ofon phase 2 project involved a lot of Nigerians. So, TotalEnergies has been doing this for years. What it means is that Nigerian contractors, Nigerian subcontractors, fabricators, consultants, trainers, capacity builders were all involved in the process.

“Now, coming to Ubeta project. We had FID on Ubeta project in 2024 at a time when the environment was looking bleak. But as we speak today, Ubeta project is on course and Nigerian contractors are doing the job”, he explained.

He said the project involves building a pipeline to take gas to the company’s gas processing plant, where it will be processed and supplied to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) to meet the Train 7 target.

According to him, TotalEnergies expects to start up the work in 2027.

Ojum also mentioned TotalEnergies’ $750 million Ima project as another major project that holds large local content opportunities for indigenous companies.

“Ima project is a shallow water gas development project, about 20 kilometres from the Bonny oil and gas terminal.

“The budget is about $750 million and the objective is also towards keying behind Nigeria’s objective of empowering and expanding the NLNG facilities.

“So, the gas is going to NLNG. And TotalEnergies is going to partner with local people to bring this project to pass. The project is in the process,” he stated. 

Equally, he listed the Ntokon project, an offshore field in located OML I02, Southeast Port Harcourt and about 60 kilometres and 60 meters water depth.

Ojum added, “So this Ntokon project is almost like the Ima project. It’s also at the same stage right now. We are working on the various processes for the project to have FID. The company is very optimistic with the support of NCDMB, NUPRC, the federal government that this project will definitely see the light of the day.

“So, what is in these projects for the Nigerian contractors? We have engineering and design, we have fabrication, construction, transport and installation, marine services and logistics, security, catering, administration, training for human capacity development, consulting, Research and innovation,” he added.