An elated President Bola Tinubu has hailed Shell and its partners—Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, and Eni—for their investments in the Bonga North oilfield.
The President in a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga today, described the partnership as a testament to the success of his administration’s economic reforms and policies.
Shell, a global leader in energy and petrochemicals, focuses on delivering sustainable solutions to meet the world’s energy demands.
Tinubu said the consortium has reached a Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Bonga North Deep Offshore Field. This move, he stated, underscored renewed confidence in Nigeria’s energy sector and highlighted the administration’s strategic efforts to create a robust and competitive investment environment.
Tinubu reiterated his administration’s commitment to supporting the success of such projects, emphasizing that this landmark investment—the country’s first deepwater oil project in over a decade—demonstrates the transformative impact of his policies on the oil and gas sector.
“The Renewed Hope Agenda is centred on attracting investments to revitalize the Nigerian economy and deliver prosperity to our people. From the outset, we designed policies and reforms to achieve this goal,” Tinubu stated.
The President credited strategic engagements with global energy stakeholders as pivotal in securing this investment, referencing his July 2023 meeting with Shell’s global leadership, where he declared, “We are open for business and serious about creating a stable, predictable, and investor-friendly environment.”
In early 2024, Presidential Directives further cemented this commitment, expediting regulatory approvals, reducing operational costs, and introducing competitive fiscal incentives to attract investments.
The Bonga North project is the second major initiative under Tinubu’s Presidential Directives 40, 41, and 42, which focus on enhancing regulatory clarity, accelerating project timelines, and incentivizing investment in Nigeria’s energy sector.
Earlier in 2024, TotalEnergies and NNPC finalised the FID for the Ubeta oilfield (OML 58), the first project under this blueprint. Dormant since its discovery in 1965, Ubeta is set to produce 350 million standard cubic feet of gas daily, bolstering domestic supply and enhancing Nigeria’s global energy market presence.
The successful FIDs for both Bonga North and Ubeta underscored the effectiveness of the President’s vision for Nigeria’s energy future.
Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser to the President on Energy, described the Bonga North development as a turning point for Nigeria’s energy sector.
