Shell goes deep offshore in Nigeria

Shell in Nigeria has begun detailed development planning of Bonga deep offshore oil reserves and was near completion of appraisal drilling.
A statement has said three appraisal wells had been drilled in Bonga and that two zones of the Bonga-1X well had tested at 4,000 bpd .
No figures were given for results of Bonga-2 or Bonga-3 appraisal wells, both of which were begun in 1997. "These appraisal wells were designed to establish the likely reserves and potential commerciality of the Bonga feature ... Based on these results, detailed development planning is now commencing," it was said.
Industry estimates for the size of Nigeria's deep offshore reserves reach as high as 20 bn barrel. Bonga is about 100 km (60 miles) off the southern coast of Nigeria in around 1,000 metres of water and lies in licence area OPL 212.
Deep offshore waters of West and Central Africa are seen as a huge potential growth area of crude oil production, particularly after very large discoveries by Elf-Aquitainein waters off Angola and Congo.
SNEPCO said it was likely to drill another new well in its other deep water concession, OPL 219, after the suspension without testing of the Ngolo-1X well in 1997.
Onshore in northern Nigeria, which has yet to produce oil, SNEPCO said it planned its first exploratory drilling in the Gongola Basin area after seismic testing.
Unlike the joint venture between Shell and Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC), SNEPCO has a PSC with the government.