The Bonga Field is an

oilfield A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. It was located in License block OPL 212 off the Nigerian coast, which was renamed OML 118 in February 2000. The field covers approximately 60 km² in an average water depth of . The field was discovered in 1996, with government approval for its development given in 2002. The field began first production in November 2005. The field is worked via an

FPSO A floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the production and processing of hydrocarbons, and for the storage of oil. An FPSO vessel is designed to receive h ...

vessel. The field produces both

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

; the petroleum is offloaded to tankers while the gas is piped back to Nigeria where it is exported via an

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

plant. The field contains approximately 6,000 mm

barrels of oil A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel), oil barrels, and so forth. For historical reasons the volumes of some barrel units ...

. The field is operated by

Shell Nigeria Shell Nigeria is the common name for Shell plc's Nigerian operations carried out through four subsidiaries—primarily Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC). Royal Dutch Shell's joint ventures account for more than 21% of ...

who own 55% of the license. The other partners in the field development are

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

(20%), Nigerian

AGIP Agip (''Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli'', en, General Italian Oil Company) is an Italian automotive gasoline, diesel, LPG, lubricants, fuel oil, and bitumen retailer established in 1926. It has been a subsidiary of the multinational petroleu ...

(12.5%) and Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited (12.5%)

Field history

Located southwest of the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical ...

, the first discovery well was spudded in September 1995 after acquiring extensive information about the block via a 3D

seismic survey Reflection seismology (or seismic reflection) is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflection (physics), reflected seismic waves. The method require ...

in 1993/94. A secondary field was discovered in the block in May 2001 known as Bonga SW, which encountered significant

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ex ...

s. A third field was discovered later in 2004 which is known as Bonga North.

Field development

The field has been produced as a subsea tie back to a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO). Currently there are 16 oil producing and water injection wells on the field. However, this will be increased to nearly 40 wells as the field is developed further. Due to the large size of the Bonga SW it is currently thought it will require separate production facility to adequately produce the field. Oil produced from the field is stored on the FPSO for transport to markets via tankers while the gas is exported via a pipeline to the Nigerian Coast for LNG. The FPSO was built by Samsung Heavy industries. It was then taken to

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

for installation of the process topsides. It contained a number of firsts for its type. The SURF (Subsea, Umbilicals, Risers, Flowlines) contract was won by Stolt Offshore (later renamed Acergy and now Subsea7 ). Stolt vessel POLARIS installed all the flowlines and subsea structures in J-Lay and S-Lay pipelay modes. Production at the well was shut down for three weeks after 19 June 2008, after an attack by the

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is a decentralised militant group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. MEND's actionsincluding sabotage, theft, property destruction, guerrilla warfare, and kidnappingare part of the bro ...

2011 oil spill

On 20 December 2011 an

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

occurred that "likely was less than 40,000 barrels, or 1.68 million gallons .4 megalitres. It resulted in an oil slick long off the Nigerian coast. It was probably the worst spill in the area for a decade. Oil spills have the potential to cause great damage to the environment, for example water pollution, which reduces fishing yields and agriculture, which is one of Nigeria's largest industries.

References

External links

Bonga Deep water Project
from Shell Nigeria * * * * {{coord missing, Nigeria Oil fields of Nigeria Natural gas fields in Nigeria Shell plc oil and gas fields

Field history

Field development

2011 oil spill

See also

References

External links