Oil theft in Nigeria is declining as a result of increased oil output

Following the commencement of production at the Bonga FPSO, increased oil output is reducing oil theft in Nigeria since oil earnings are expected to increase.

The Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel’s 2022 Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) has been finished, according to a November 17 statement from Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo). SNEPCo declared:

“Commissioning and start-up activities are in progress and will culminate in the ramp-up of oil and gas production in the coming days.”

According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) monthly oil market report (MOMR), Nigeria’s crude oil production reached over a million barrels per day (1.014mb/d) for the first time since July 2022 in October 2022. Extreme crude oil theft lately hindered the nation’s ability to produce crude oil.

Nigeria loses $150 million in revenue every other day due to pipeline vandalism and sideline production, the chief financial officer (CFO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited stated in October 2022, impeding Nigeria’s chances of benefiting from the age of high oil prices.

Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, an ex-Niger Delta insurgent, was later hired by the federal government to reveal any unauthorized exploration and production activities in the Niger Delta region, which has resulted in a lot of success. Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for petroleum resources, had earlier stated that the government was working with operating firms, host communities, and the military forces to combat crude oil theft.

The Bonga FPSO was meant to be shut down for 30 days in order to complete required inspections, recertify, and other crucial asset integrity restoration tasks, according to SNEPCo’s statement. However, the procedures were finished 22 days earlier than expected.

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The 2005-starting Bonga Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel also has a daily gas export capacity of 150 standard cubic feet (scf).

About 880 million barrels of oil were produced by the Bonga FPSO as of 2020.
In 2019, the FPSO’s production capacity increased from 85% in 2018 to 94%. SNEPCo’s output increased in 2019 from 158,000 to 164,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), mostly as a result of Bonga.
SNEPCo supplied over 22% of Shell’s global deepwater oil production as of 2020.

The processing and storage capacities of the Bonga FPSO are 225,000 and 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, respectively. For turnaround maintenance (TAM), the facility was closed on October 18, 2022.