The project could reshape Nigeria’s energy oil future, reckons SALIHU ONIMISI
After more than two decades of delays, negotiations and uncertainty, one of Nigeria’s most ambitious deepwater oil projects is moving closer to reality. With potential lifetime investment of up to $21 billion, the Bonga South-West Aparo (BSWA) project could become a defining test of whether Nigeria has restored the conditions necessary to attract large-scale energy investments.
For more than two decades, beneath the deep waters of Nigeria’s offshore Niger Delta, one of the country’s most promising petroleum assets has remained undeveloped. It has endured changes in government, evolving fiscal policies, prolonged negotiations, commercial disputes and an accelerating global energy transition that has made investment decisions on large oil projects increasingly complex.
Today, however, the long-delayed BSWA project has returned to the centre of Nigeria’s energy agenda. The project, estimated to attract between $15 billion and $21 billion over its lifetime, has taken a significant step towards Final Investment Decision (FID) following the execution of addenda to the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118 Production Sharing Contract (PSC) and the Dispute Settlement Agreement (DSA) by NNPC Limited and its contractor partners, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited.
