Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd., (SNEPCo) said it paid N366 billion as revenue to the Federal Government in 2018.
The company said it also made another N2.1 billion as statutory payment to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
SNEPCo’s Managing Director, Mr Bayo Ojulari, said in a statement on Tuesday that the funds were generated from the oil/gas exploration and production activities of the company’s flagship investment, Bonga.
Bonga is Nigeria’s first oil and gas project in water depths of over 1,000 metres.
“At the end of 2018, SNEPCo had produced 819 million barrels of oil from the Bonga field which translates into huge contributions to the Nigerian economy in addition to the significant human capital development of deep-water expertise among Nigerians,” he said.
He said that the pride of SNEPCo was the increase in its Nigerian workforce to more than 96 per cent and the training of Nigeria’s first oil and gas engineers with deep-water experience.
“The success story at Bonga is not only that it is Nigeria’s first deep-water project.
“But, the fact that Bonga is a Nigerian venture delivered by Nigerians using global expertise and processes offered by the Shell Group that have launched Nigeria into the league of notable deep-water players.
“Apart from payments to government, SNEPCo is also credited with many social investment initiatives nationwide, particularly in education, health and sports,” he said.
Ojulari said those were considered very critical to the overall well-being of Nigerians as the company spent more than N2.2 billion on various social investment programmes in 2018.
“Today, SNEPCo supports 298 undergraduates toward achieving their degrees with beneficiaries across the 36 states of Nigeria.
“Another 375 scholars are on full-board secondary school scholarship programme for pupils from public schools into seven top-flight private secondary schools across Nigeria to enhance access to quality education,” he said in the statement.
On the ongoing Bonga South West Aparo, a new project in the Bonga field, Ojulari said the company was making progress with the 150,000 barrel per day capacity project.
This is after signing the head of terms agreement with partners in February and released Invitation to Tenders to contractors in the same month.
“We are working with our government and other partners to take the project to a point where we are able to take the final investment decision,” he said.
