Nigeria’s Bonga North deepwater project played a key role in boosting the fourth-quarter 2024 performance of French engineering giant TechnipFMC. The company had announced in December that it secured a contract for the project, valued between $250 million and $500 million, awarded by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited.
Under the contract, TechnipFMC will supply its Subsea 2.0 production systems for the Bonga North development, including designing and manufacturing subsea tree systems, manifolds, jumpers, controls, and other key components.
During the quarterly report, the company highlighted heightened activity in Africa as a major contributor to its subsea division’s success. TechnipFMC’s total order backlog reached $14.4 billion, reflecting a 9% increase year-over-year, with full-year orders totaling $10.4 billion. The company expects a similarly strong order book for 2025.
Doug Pferdehirt, Chairman and CEO of TechnipFMC, described it as “another year of tremendous success” for the company. “We have secured $20.2 billion in subsea orders over the past two years, and our strong market visibility gives us confidence that we will exceed $10 billion in inbound orders this year—delivering on our $30 billion target for the three-year period ending in 2025,” Pferdehirt stated.
TechnipFMC also reported substantial growth in the Middle East region, while expressing optimism about further subsea project opportunities, particularly in Africa. Offshore developments in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Namibia are among the new projects expected to drive future expansion.
“We are witnessing increased visibility into long-term opportunities, supported by an expanding pipeline of named projects that extend beyond historical planning horizons. This gives us even greater confidence that activity will remain strong through the end of the decade,” Pferdehirt added.
Beyond Africa, TechnipFMC has secured a $1 billion contract for the GranMorgu project, the first offshore oil and gas development in Suriname.
Shell’s Bonga North development, off the Nigerian coast, will be a subsea tieback to the existing Bonga floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility in block OML 118, located in water depths exceeding 1,000 meters. The project involves drilling, completing, and starting up 16 wells (comprising eight production wells and eight water injection wells), modifications to the FPSO, and the installation of new subsea infrastructure tied back to the facility.
Bonga North is estimated to hold over 300 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent and is projected to reach a peak production rate of 110,000 barrels per day. First oil production is anticipated by the end of the decade.
Source: Oil Review Africa
