By Adewale Sanyaolu

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Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo)’s 225,000 barrels per day (bpd) Bonga Deepwater is set to resume operations in April after it was shut down for Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) on March 4.
Managing Director of SNEPCo, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, stated this in a teleconferencing session with Energy correspondents in Lagos, yesterday.
Ojulari said it was improper to interpret the shut in timeline as a period of production loss to Nigeria, stressing that TAM is a series of planned and controlled activities that are implemented in collaboration with government and other stakeholders – with the aim of ensuring the continued safety and productivity of the facility. He said the planning for TAM started two years ago while safety is top priority in every stage of the activity.
He noted that Nigerian companies are playing key roles in TAM at Bonga, as SNEPCo executes statutory activities that will ensure continuous optimum operations at the deep-water field with nearly all the bolts and nuts as well as fabrications used for the exercise made in Nigeria, marking a turning point in SNEPCo’s efforts to encourage Nigerian content development.
“This is an operation safely in Nigerian hands, with Nigerian engineers and companies playing leading roles and ensuring the objectives of the exercise is achieved. TAM, which commenced on March 4, 2017, involves three major components – statutory and regulatory safety checks, inspections, repairs and replacement of equipment and upgrades – to ensure safety, optimum production, availability and reliability.  It is also part of the base case design of the FPSO to carry out TAM on every 30 months basis.
“The plan is to successfully conclude the ramp of activities and resume production as planned in April 2017. It is not proper to interpret the period as production loss to Nigeria. Rather, the turnaround maintenance is a series of planned and controlled activities that are implemented in collaboration with government and other stakeholders – with the aim of ensuring the continued safety and productivity of the facility. The planning started two years ago and safety is top priority in every stage of the activities,” he said.