Shell Petroleum Development Company

By Ediri Ejoh With Agency Report

Shell is preparing maintenance of strategic oil field, the Bonga oilfield between March and April, though the impact on production and exact dates are still being finalised.

Shell operates the offshore field via its Nigerian subsidiary SNEPCo.

In March, around 153,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude were due for export, according to a loading programme, reported by Reuters.

“The Bonga FPSO will be undergoing scheduled maintenance and project activities in addition to regulatory inspections during March and April. Exact dates and production impacts are currently under review,” the spokesman said.

So far, no April loading program has emerged. Traders said just two cargo loading dates came out for April 1-2 and 11-12, the first of which is likely a deferral from March.

Bonga, known as Bonga North West, is located in the OML 118 block. Shell announced plans to develop another field called Bonga South West inside the same area.

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The $10 billion development is expected to add 200,000 bpd, roughly 10 percent of Nigeria’s current oil production.

However, uncertainty over future fiscal terms has delayed a final investment decision.

Meanwhile, oil prices inched higher on Monday after earlier hitting multi-year lows as hopes that a bigger than expected production cut from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC and stimulus from Central Banks could offset economic gloom from the coronavirus outbreak.

Brent crude was at $50.32 a barrel, up 65 cents, or 1.3 per cent after earlier dropping to $48.40, the lowest since July 2017.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate, WTI, crude hit a 14-month low of $43.32 a barrel, before recovering to $45.23, up 47 cents, or 1.1 percent.

Flight cancellations and travel bans by countries worldwide sparked fears about the global economy, leading to the biggest weekly stock market rout since the 2008 financial crisis last week.

China’s factory activity also shrunk at the fastest pace ever in February, underscoring the colossal damage from the coronavirus outbreak on the world’s second-largest economy.

“On the one hand, it’s pretty negative on worldwide crude oil and product demand,” said Lachlan Shaw, head of commodity research at the National Australia Bank.

On the other hand, there was news Saudi Arabia was pushing for a million barrels per day cut to be agreed this week, while Central Banks globally were increasingly signalling an appetite to intervene and support markets by cutting interest rates, he said.

“So it’s a balance and it’s going to be pretty volatile.”

Several key members of the OPEC are mulling an additional production cut of 1 million barrels per day, more than the 600,000 bpd proposed last month, on growing fears that the virus outbreak will hit oil demand badly.

Vanguard News Nigeria.