Shell’s $5bn Bonga S’West project gets presidential support

President Bola Tinubu has approved targeted incentives to unlock Shell’s long-delayed $5bn Bonga South-West deep-offshore oil project. He also directed his Special Adviser on Energy, Olu Verheijen, to facilitate the gazetting of the incentives in line with Nigeria’s existing legal and fiscal frameworks.

Tinubu gave the approval on Wednesday while receiving a Shell delegation led by its Global Chief Executive Officer, Wael Sawan, at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.

The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, announced the approval in a statement on Thursday titled: ‘President Tinubu approves targeted incentives to unlock jobs, FX inflows from Shell’s Bonga Southwest Project and other deep offshore projects.’

The Bonga Southwest project, located approximately 120 kilometres offshore Nigeria in water depths exceeding 1,000 metres, has been stalled for over a decade due to fiscal disagreements between the Federal Government and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company and its joint venture partners.

The project, estimated to cost over $5bn, is expected to produce about 150,000 barrels of oil per day at peak capacity and holds significant potential for gas production, experts say.

Previous administrations struggled to reach an agreement with Shell on the fiscal terms for the project, with the oil giant seeking incentives to make the capital-intensive deep-water development commercially viable amid declining global oil prices and Nigeria’s challenging investment climate.

Announcing the breakthrough, Tinubu said the approved incentives are “disciplined, targeted, and globally competitive,” designed to attract new capital without undermining government revenues.