Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited says it has commenced a turnaround maintenance activity at the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel.

In a statement on Sunday, the oil giant said the exercise is a statutory and integrity assurance programme aimed at extending the life of the facility. The FSPO is expected to resume operations in March.

“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. We expect to resume operations in March following the completion of the turnaround,” said SNEPCo Managing Director, Ronald Adams.

According to the statement, 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, said to be located approximately 120 km offshore in water depths exceeding 1,000 metres, has the capacity to produce 225,000 barrels of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

“Maintaining the integrity of this critical national asset is essential to supporting stable production and Nigeria’s wider energy, security, and revenue objectives.

“This year’s turnaround comes at a strategic moment for SNEPCo and its co‑venture partners. In 2024, the partners took the final investment decision on Bonga North, a subsea tie‑back development that will depend on the reliability and enhanced capacity of the Bonga FPSO.

“A successful turnaround maintenance is therefore essential to preparing the facility for the additional volumes and operational demands associated with the new development,” the statement explained.

It was stated that 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.

The statement did not explain how the turnaround maintenance would affect daily oil production.