Nigeria Faces 225,000bpd Output Cut As Shell Shuts FPSO For Maintenance

Nigeria faces a 225,000 barrels per day (bpd) output cut as Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) shuts down its Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for scheduled turnaround maintenance.

The deepwater facility, located 120 km offshore in over 1,000 metres of water, normally produces up to 225,000 bpd of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas daily, accounting for roughly 15 per cent of Nigeria’s recent crude output levels.

The turnaround maintenance is expected to last approximately six weeks, with operations resuming in March.

During this period, cumulative lost production could reach about 9.45 million barrels of crude oil and 6.3 billion standard cubic feet (scf) of gas, based on the facility’s full capacity of 225,000 bpd of oil and 150 million scf of gas daily over 42 days.

In 2025, Nigeria’s average crude oil production fluctuated between 1.4 and 1.6 million bpd, with notable monthly figures including 1.642 million bpd in June, 1.614 million bpd in May, and around 1.5 million bpd by year-end December, reflecting a lift from the 1.4 million bpd averages recorded earlier amid efforts to curb theft and meet OPEC quotas.

The Bonga FPSO has historically contributed between 10 and 15 per cent to national output, bolstering deepwater production that peaked following the 2022 maintenance and supported the 2025 uptick from prior lows, with the field alone delivering over one billion barrels cumulatively by early 2023.

The statutory exercise, aimed at ensuring safety, regulatory compliance and a 15-year asset life extension, includes inspections, integrity upgrades and modifications to support upcoming demands such as the Bonga North development, the company said.

“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,” said SNEPCo Managing Director, Ronald Adams.

“We expect to resume operations in March following the completion of the turnaround.”

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, 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 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 last turnaround maintenance activity on the FPSO took place in October 2022. On February 1 the following year, the asset delivered its one 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 (NNPC Ltd).