Not many people know this but Most of Nigeria's oil is prodced Off-Shore. One of the largest deposits is the Bonga Oil Field.
Do you Know off which state's coastline this field lies.

Yea "LAGOS STATE" that is according to Godswill Akpabio (I have my doubts about this). But Lagos does not get one penny of derivation from this field. According to Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom this field produces 800000 barrels of oil daily. I believe it is about a quarter of that

Others say it is only 200000 barrels a day and is NO WHERE near Lagos .What is the truth

Bonga off Lagos state? except perhaps you're talking of the FPSO vessel that once "passed" through the Lagos coast. Bonga is situated off the ND coast I know that for a fact.

See link
www.offshore-technology.com/projects/bonga/bonga3.html

I have seen a map and the field seems closer to the Delta than Lagos though that is not necessarily accurate.I would like to know the facts or where Akpabio got his info from.I Would like to believe he knows what he is talking about.
I must confess.I have met several expatriates on airplanes who calime to be "working offshore in Lagos" though it may just be that they board a helicopter in Lagos whenever they go to the FPSO(Floating Production Storage and Offloading) vessel

There is one thing that should concern our youth and politicians. The FPSO and other investment installations cost £3,6 billion and when the sums are added this will be counted as FDI in Nigeria but AMEC and ABB won the major civil engineering contracts in that project;pipelines etc. Two things concern me two How many jobs did our people get and how much tax did AMEC or ABB pay to Nigeria on those deals.Your guess is as good as mine. Probably half or more of that 3,6 billion NEVER entered Nigeria and we are not represented by people who can ask the right questions ??

Bonga oil field is one of the interesting mysteries of Nigeria.
Bonga started production in Nov 2005 and was built at the cost of $3.6 Billion. I remember wondering at the time how long it would take them to get a return on investment. Boy I was beyond shocked. In less than three months, Bonga had produced enough oil worth more than the $3.6 Billion that was invested.
The facility produces about 250,000 barrels daily. At an average of $100 per barrel, that equates to $25 Million dollars daily.
I saw an advert Shell put up recently that showed that Bonga, till the end of 2012 had produced 400 million barrels of crude oil. At an average of $100 per barrel over the period, this single facility has coughed out $40 Billion worth of oil, which is over ten times its investment in less than 7 years. Some crazy ish, man. Crazzzzeee!


About its proximity to Lagos vs other states, the map below exposes that fallacy. Bonga is Niger Delta property, probably shared between rivers and bayelsa.

ondo state is where bongo field is.. where did Godswill Akpabio get his fact from.. it is in ondo state..

musiwa11: ondo state is where bongo field is.. where did Godswill Akpabio get his fact from.. it is in ondo state..

Bros ...any graphical proof for this your statement ?

Rig Solutions

PapaBrowne: Bonga oil field is one of the interesting mysteries of Nigeria.
Bonga started production in Nov 2005 and was built at the cost of $3.6 Billion. I remember wondering at the time how long it would take them to get a return on investment. Boy I was beyond shocked. In less than three months, Bonga had produced enough oil worth more than the $3.6 Billion that was invested.
The facility produces about 250,000 barrels daily. At an average of $100 per barrel, that equates to $25 Million dollars daily.
I saw an advert Shell put up recently that showed that Bonga, till the end of 2012 had produced 400 million barrels of crude oil. At an average of $100 per barrel over the period, this single facility has coughed out $40 Billion worth of oil, which is over ten times its investment in less than 7 years. Some crazy ish, man. Crazzzzeee!


About its proximity to Lagos vs other states, the map below exposes that fallacy. Bonga is Niger Delta property, probably shared between rivers and bayelsa.

I saw that map before I went to press,
as I stated above I have doubts and I did my own research before coming here. I am sure have many others.
The map may or may not be accurate. What you have done is reproduce a map available online and i will ask a simple question .

What you must bear in mind is with an oil deposit Location of the head or well does not tell the whole story.
DO YOU KNOW WHO PRODUCED THAT MAP AND WHEN ??I think it is always good to be humble when asserting facts.The map is widely available on google.
What is more important is the coordinates of the field.It is possible to locate a head in Rivers state to extract all the oil in a field that lies 70% across the border with Abia Underground So do not think reproducing an internet map proves anything.There is quite a lot more to it than that as disputes over Bakassi,Disputes between China Japan and Korea in the Korea sea tell us. All the oil producing states employ good lawyers etc to fight their cases and not all the information is available on the internet nor is what is available necessarily true.
The status quo NOW is that the field is NOT shared by RIVERS and BAYELSA as you claim. NO STATE is getting any money from that field. WHY??
If all the coastal states in Nigeria were independent states what does international law have to say on How these issues are resolved ??

My point is there is an assymetry of information.Our government is NOT transparent and we have to rely on others for information about our country. That is why I opened this thread
Why did Akpabio say what he said? I was hoping someone could shed light on that rather than produce what is on Google

Our coastal maps are not reliable as was demonstrated when we went to court with Cameroun over Bakassi. I have heard that even Benin Republic should have a stake in the field and that is part of the politics being played out in Maps that you will see online.
Why is there no official statement stating the COORDINATES and why don't ANY states get derivation from the field?

musiwa11: ondo state is where bongo field is.. where did Godswill Akpabio get his fact from.. it is in ondo state..

I am not sure it is in any one state
Shell on their website http://www.shell.com/global/environment-society/society/nigeria/major-projects/bonga.html
tells us it covers 60 square kilometre.What I know is that No state collects derivation from that field. I suspect the field is in International waters at least partially. By that I mean the location of the deposit not the head and if it was any further west Benin and Togo will emerge. The Recent spillage of 40000 barrels stretched from Benin to Akwa Ibom Bear in mind the FPSO is no bigger than a large ship compare to the size of the field

Clearly Bonga is even off Bayelsa, and not even Delta, Talk less of Ondo or Lagos, I don't understand what my friends from the SW want...already snepco has set up office in Lagos, everything concerning Bonga is run from lagos, as if that insult on the Nigerdeltans is not enuf, you also want to claim that Bonga is off shore lagos...na wa ooo

Simple question If there was no Nigeria and you had all the coastal states as Independent nations. Do you believe any single nation among those states can claim Bonga exclusively successfully. I can guarantee you that even Cameroun would have a claim.

@Aribisala, I assumed you had less info, so I just tried to pour some light on Bonga. But obviously, you know more than I thought.

Now you raised two salient points. One that no state claims revenue on Bonga and two that if all states were independent, the wouldnt have the capacity to claim the fields.

For your first point, I'd say there is no way revenue from Bonga would accrue diretly to the FG and the states would not invoke the supreme court ruling on onshore/offshore dichotomy. The field is too lucrative for the potential states to let go. Worse still, if any single drop were taken off Lagos waters, I know that the lawyer in Fashola would come in very handy.

On your second point, even small countries like Equitorial Guinea(pop 720,000) and Sao Tome(pop 180,000) have fields offshore. Ghana's oil discoveries are located offshore and same with much of the new discoveries accross Africa. Even if the field belonged to a country the size of a local Govt, it would get its due.

I think you got mischief off your sleeves and you are indirectly trying to debate the Onshore offshore dichotomy. You probably think states should not have the revenue from offshore fields accrue to thier accounts.

aribisala0: Simple question If there was no Nigeria and you had all the coastal states as Independent nations. Do you believe any single nation among those states can claim Bonga exclusively successfully. I can guarantee you that even Cameroun would have a claim.

You first started by saying it belongs to lagos, after relevant pictures were shown to you, you said it belongs to nobody, if bayelsa where a country, it would belong to Bayelsa full stop

am presently drilling on sedco702 rig Bonga field. Owned by SNEPCO(shell nigeria offshore). thanks for all yur information. no state has claim to it cos its off the continental shelf. you get here by flying from lasgos or warri but in terms of proximity and naija greed, its owned by delta state. oyel too much.

am presently drilling on sedco702 rig Bonga field. Owned by SNEPCO(shell nigeria offshore). thanks for all yur information. no state has claim to it cos its off the continental shelf. you get here by flying from lasgos or warri but in terms of proximity and naija greed, its owned by delta state. oyel too much. aribisala0 hope yu are satisfied? bros how work for malaysia? cheers.

kopite: am presently drilling on sedco702 rig Bonga field. Owned by SNEPCO(shell nigeria offshore). thanks for all yur information. no state has claim to it cos its off the continental shelf. you get here by flying from lasgos or warri but in terms of proximity and naija greed, its owned by delta state. oyel too much. aribisala0 hope yu are satisfied? bros how work for malaysia? cheers.

In terms on renevue acrual, it is under bayelsa, and it is closer to bayelsa, not delta.

See actual map, it is on the border between delta adn bayelsa, but still in Bayelsa

That is not how the law of the sea works my friend .The oil is underground and is NOT a point on a map .

As far as NIgeria goes RIGHT now NO STATE is getting anything . WHY??

DaLover:
You first started by saying it belongs to lagos, after relevant pictures were shown to you, you said it belongs to nobody, if bayelsa where a country, it would belong to Bayelsa full stop

Please do not lie or misquote me. I DID NOT SAY IT BELONGS TO LAGOS. I suggest you read my post carefully if you are interested in having a sensible discussion

While I don't necessarily know enough about this field or location, the exact location can't be determined by dots on a map. The location of the wellheads on the seabed could be still be miles away from the actual accumulation.

PapaBrowne: @Aribisala, I assumed you had less info, so I just tried to pour some light on Bonga. But obviously, you know more than I thought.

Now you raised two salient points. One that no state claims revenue on Bonga and two that if all states were independent, the wouldnt have the capacity to claim the fields.

For your first point, I'd say there is no way revenue from Bonga would accrue diretly to the FG and the states would not invoke the supreme court ruling on onshore/offshore dichotomy. The field is too lucrative for the potential states to let go. Worse still, if any single drop were taken off Lagos waters, I know that the lawyer in Fashola would come in very handy.

On your second point, even small countries like Equitorial Guinea(pop 720,000) and Sao Tome(pop 180,000) have fields offshore. Ghana's oil discoveries are located offshore and same with much of the new discoveries accross Africa. Even if the field belonged to a country the size of a local Govt, it would get its due.

I think you got mischief off your sleeves and you are indirectly trying to debate the Onshore offshore dichotomy. You probably think states should not have the revenue from offshore fields accrue to thier accounts.

The Supreme court ruling on dichotomy did not favour the states .I think you need to check it up.
Let me explain a few things to you. It is clear you do not know what the Supreme court ruled.

1. The Supreme Court ruled that

“the seaward boundary of a littoral State within the Federal republic of Nigeria, for the purpose of calculating the amount of revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from any natural resources derived from that State pursuant to section 162(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, is the low water mark of the land surface thereof or (if the case so requires as in the Cross River State with an archipelago of islands) the seaward limits of inland waters within the State.”

This ruling created the dichotomy. The implication was that the NATIONAL government has greater control over resources such as BONGA Field and most DEEP WATER fields.Note the term NATIONAL and NOT FEDDERAL what this meant was Oil from fields like Bonga field would be shared from the FEDERATION ACCOUNT using a formula that does not include DERIVATION. In short Derivation principle doe NOT apply .That was the upshot of the Court case which sought to clarify the constitution

2. This did not obviate the possibility of Legislation to change that and under much pressure from states like Akwa Ibom . The National Assembly enacted a "Dichotomy Abrogation Act" Which Obasanjo refused to sign in its original form because it went too far in his view by going as far as the continental shelf.What is striking is that somehow the Northerners in the National Assembly were persuaded to back the law even threatening to overrrule Obasanjo's dissent with a 2/3 majority
3. A compromise version of the Abrogation law was passed in 2004 that did not extend as far as the constitutional shelf.

There are those who argue that the law is actually unconstitutional since the Supreme court ruled on a constitutional question and abrogation could not be done by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT alone i.e National Assembly but that it required a constitutional change. In fact some Northern Governors have threatened to challenge the law in court(I suspect they may be right)
That is the situation as far as the law goes so the position of littoral states is weak legally and they are not in a position to invoke anything.

Regarding Bonga,The issue is does Bonga lie within the compromise radius of the Abrogation act or even Beyond and outside the Continental Shelf. We must remember that an oil field may extend beyond the point where the head is sunk. Looking at the map shown If that field was on the same Latitude and further to the West it likely would be Outside the Continental shelf and subject to claims from Benin Republic among others. It would also be outside of range of Lagos within the meaning of the compromise terms of the Abrogation act. I opened this thread having done considerable research on the subject and hoped perhaps to discuss with those who know even more.
There is every reason for Nigeria to distort the map.This would not be the first time the Nigeria government have done this. It does not make any difference because the field is too far from land to attract derivation claims. They did in in their documents presented at the ICJ when contesting Bakassi with Cameroun and were exposed embarassingly.So far no one is willing to provide coordinates for the field. I have actually emailed SHELL to request them and was told they could not be given for "security reasons".
Your claim that I have mischief up my sleeves is really disrespectful and I normally do not engage with that kind of talk .

kopite: am presently drilling on sedco702 rig Bonga field. Owned by SNEPCO(shell nigeria offshore). thanks for all yur information. no state has claim to it cos its off the continental shelf. you get here by flying from lasgos or warri but in terms of proximity and naija greed, its owned by delta state. oyel too much. aribisala0 hope yu are satisfied? bros how work for malaysia? cheers.

If it is off the continental shelf can other countries have a claim e.g Sao tome Or Others

^^^^
Ok, I assumed wrongly. You seem to know a lot about this and I'm glad you brought it up for discussion. I've never read in much detail the terms of the supreme court ruling and the abrogation act. My apologies for the allegation.

My interest about Bonga had been the economics of the field. The politics from what you're pointing out is quite interesting.

What in your opinion would be the reason why the FG takes the revenue and no state has the courage to challenge what might be an anomaly given that even the continental shelves ought to be defines geographically to belong in a certain state in Nigeria. Not very sure, but so I think.

aribisala0:
Please do not lie or misquote me. I DID NOT SAY IT BELONGS TO LAGOS. I suggest you read my post carefully if you are interested in having a sensible discussion

But do you understand that the revenue from Bonga accrues to bayelsa?

aribisala0: That is not how the law of the sea works my friend .The oil is underground and is NOT a point on a map .

As far as NIgeria goes RIGHT now NO STATE is getting anything . WHY??

DaLover:

But do you understand that the revenue from Bonga accrues to bayelsa?

Really? Do you have any evidence for this??

PapaBrowne: ^^^^
Ok, I assumed wrongly. You seem to know a lot about this and I'm glad you brought it up for discussion. I've never read in much detail the terms of the supreme court ruling and the abrogation act. My apologies for the allegation.

My interest about Bonga had been the economics of the field. The politics from what you're pointing out is quite interesting.

What in your opinion would be the reason why the FG takes the revenue and no state has the courage to challenge what might be an anomaly given that even the continental shelves ought to be defines geographically to belong in a certain state in Nigeria. Not very sure, but so I think.

The Supreme Court settled the matter in Favour of the Federal Government. SO this issue arises from the 1999 Constitution and we can conclude the framers of that constitution knew what they were up to.The 1960 Constitution was a lot different and I beliveve(not sure) about 55/45% a lot more went to the Regions. I think we have to be very careful about giving so much to artificially created states ignoring the former region. I believe e.g if derivation comes to Lagos or Bayelsa or Delta Rivers from the sea then many of those states not directly touching the sea should have som diluted derivation claim namely Ogun Edo Imo Cross River and even others further inland according to a formula based on distance from the sea. It is hard to imagine without the arrival of the British that Lagos ,Bayelsa,Akwa ibom could possibly have survived as independendent entities without merging with their hinterland brethren willingly or otherwise

What states done with all the previous allocation given to them from all the other oil fields? Abeg eeee

Leaving the allocation to one side. Let us look at the £3.6 billion that was spent in setting up the site. Multimillion dollar contracts were awarded to AMEC and ABB. Should our government not be insisting that any company that wins such contracts MUST
1) Incorporate itself and pay taxes in Nigeria
2) Employ and train Nigerians in those unique competences specific to FPSOs
3 Use Nigerian lawyers,banks etc.
They even have Oyinbo cooks on those FPSOs
You will hear that Figure of 3.6 billion as Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria but in reality cheques would be written and cleared in London and little of that money will enter our country wilhe tax will be paid by those companies to THEIR countries. In 2011 there was a major spill from that field with no consequences for anyone compared to what happened in the Gulf of Mexico the previous year.We really need clued up people in our corner