• Nigeria has approved a fiscal incentive to unlock the Bonga Southwest Aparo project.

• The project, operated by Shell, could require about $20 billion in investment.

• The move reflects a broader acceleration of upstream oil and gas projects since 2025.

Nigeria’s offshore oil project Bonga Southwest Aparo is moving closer to a final investment decision (FID) after the state oil company NNPC secured presidential approval for a fiscal incentive, several Nigerian media outlets reported on March 11.

NNPC Ltd said in a statement cited by local media that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved a targeted fiscal incentive aimed at unlocking the long-awaited final investment decision for the Bonga Southwest Aparo deepwater project.

The step clears the way for a potential FID, the stage at which project partners formally approve development and commit the capital required to bring the field into production.

According to industry estimates, the project—operated by Anglo-Dutch multinational Shell through its subsidiary Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo)—represents an investment of about $20 billion.

A project revived after nearly a decade of uncertainty

Plans to develop Bonga Southwest Aparo have existed for years. In mid-January 2026, Ecofin Agency reported that the project had been revived after nearly a decade of uncertainty. One sign of renewed momentum was the launch of a tender process to supply a floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO).

Located in block OML 118, the project aims to develop additional resources in the Bonga offshore area, one of Nigeria’s main deepwater production hubs. The Bonga field has produced crude since 2005 using an FPSO installed about 120 kilometers off the Niger Delta.

The new facility under consideration could be designed to produce around 150,000 barrels per day, a capacity comparable to the FPSO currently operating at the field.

A broader push to accelerate oil and gas projects

Since 2025, several developments have pointed to renewed momentum in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas sector. Data published in 2025 by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) show that 28 field development plans have been approved, representing about $18.2 billion in investment commitments.

According to the regulator, these projects could unlock 1.4 billion barrels of oil and 5.4 trillion cubic feet of gas, with additional production potential estimated at 591,000 barrels per day and 2.1 billion cubic feet of gas.

At the same time, several international companies have revived offshore investment plans in Nigeria. In May 2025, Reuters reported that ExxonMobil planned to invest about $1.5 billion to develop the offshore Usan field in block OML 138.

In the gas sector, Reuters also reported in October 2025 that Shell and its partner Sunlink Energies approved the development of the offshore HI gas field, expected to supply around 350 million cubic feet of gas per day to the Nigeria LNG complex.

These developments come alongside other changes affecting deepwater projects. One of the most recent concerns oil block OPL 245, which has been reorganized into four areas awarded to Eni and Shell, as Nigeria seeks to raise oil production to 2.5 million barrels per day by the end of the year.

Abdel-Latif Boureima