2015-built flotel going to work at Shell’s deepwater asset in Nigeria

August 28, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Nortrans, a Singapore-based offshore and shipping player, in partnership with Temile Development Company, has secured a new assignment for a 2015-built maintenance and support unit, part of its managed fleet, which will head to Africa for its new job at a deepwater field off the coast of Nigeria.

Temis MSU DP3 flotel; Source: Nortrans Offshore

Nortrans and Temile have secured a contract win to work on the Bonga maintenance project, which is operated by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) offshore Nigeria. The deal allows the Temis 500-pax DP3 maintenance and safety unit (MSU) to provide offshore accommodation and support services.

“This award builds on our long-standing partnership with Temile, a trusted leader in Nigeria’s maritime and energy sector. We are proud to support Temile in delivering safe, reliable, and efficient offshore solutions for one of Nigeria’s most important deepwater assets,” emphasized Nortrans.

Once the flotel completes its ongoing charter with Equinor on the FPSO Bacalhau project in Brazil, it will mobilize directly to West Africa to begin operations. This deal comes months after a contract with Saipem in Australia enabled Nortrans to welcome the Belait CSS1 MSU DP2 200-POB flotel to its fleet on a long-term bareboat charter.

The Temis flotel’s assignment in Nigeria follows SNEPCo’s move to get TotalEnergies’ 12.5% stake in the OML 118 production sharing contract (PSC), which contains the Bonga field.

TotalEnergies offloading stake in Nigerian deepwater field to Shell for $510M

Project & Tenders

Located at water depths exceeding 1,000 meters, the Nigerian field started producing in 2005, with a capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day.

The one-billionth barrel of crude oil milestone was celebrated in 2023. Shell announced a final investment decision (FID) last year for Bonga North, a subsea tie-back to the FPSO Bonga, which is working at the field.