Lloyds List: Shell exports first crude cargo from Bonga field: Thursday Jan 05, 2006

SHELL has exported its first crude cargo from the $3.6bn Bonga deepwater oil project off Nigeria, writes Martyn Wingrove.

One of the world's largest floating production storage and offloading vessels operating over the Bonga field delivered its first cargo to Andriaki's very large crude carrier Avion at the end of December.

Analysts at Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit said the tanker will be taking the cargo to the US Gulf and brokers expect it to load its next cargo in the UK Continent area.

Shell's Bonga project started production on November 25 through a newbuild FPSO, moored in 1,000 m of water and with a storage capacity of 2m barrels.

Shell hopes to raise output to the nameplate capacity of 225,000 barrels per day of oil and 150m cu ft of gas this quarter as it connects 16 oil producing and water injection wells.

'It is a technology triumph that Shell is producing oil and gas from the Nigerian deepwater frontier and we have capped this with the first shipment,' said Chima Ibeneche, managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production.

The 60 sq km field lies in oil prospecting licence OPL 212 and produces through the FPSO with oil exported via the world's largest single point mooring buoy, built by Nigerdock.

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