Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) has announced the release of invitation to tender (ITT) to contractors for the development of the Bonga South-West Aparo (BSWA) oil field.

SNEPCo said in a statement that the project’s initial phase included a new Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading  (FPSO) vessel, more than 20 deep-water wells and related subsea infrastructure.

The BSWA deepwater project, which according to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, will cost $10 billion with numerous value addition in-country, including job creation, skills acquisition and capacity development for Nigerians.

The field lies across Oil Mining Leases (OML)118, 132 and 140, about 15km Southwest of the existing Bonga Main FPSO.

The ITT is for engineering, procurement and construction contracts for the 150,000 barrels per day project in the Gulf of Guinea.

SNEPCo and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have come to an agreement on key commercial terms, including agreements related to production sharing contract interpretation disputes.

The Managing Director, SNEPCo, Bayo Ojulari, said: “SNEPCo has concluded OML 118 negotiations with the NNPC. We now have a clear commercial framework, supported by the government and project investors, toward a potential Bonga South-West Aparo Final Investment Decision.”

BSWA will be the first major deepwater project offshore Nigeria since Egina, which started development in 2013. Bonga North West, which began production in August 2014, produced more than 40,000 BOE/D at peak production.

The bulk of Bonga South West’s resources are located in an area referred to as Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118, but it also extends into Chevron-operated OMLs 132 and 140, where the field is called Aparo. Along with Shell and NNPC, Total, Eni, and Sasol Petroleum are partners in the project.