The Energy Republic February Edition 2022

SNEPCO INTERVIEW
“Nigeria remains an important part of our Deepwater
portfolio; We will bring additional project Onstream
in 2022” - Eloho Aiboni, SNEPCO’s MD
spread of COVID 19.
To the question on my career. My journey to the
MD of SNEPCo started about 20 years ago when I
joined the oil and gas industry right from school as
a graduate of the University of Benin. I was on the
lookout for opportunities in the industry. Having
lived close to an oil company growing up in Port
Harcourt, I have always wanted to work in the oil
and gas industry.
I applied to Shell, got selected for the company’s
training school as a trainee, after which I started as
a production engineer, straight into the field. I was
eager to learn fast. So, I made myself humble and
worked with everyone in the field. I took on all
types of jobs, even ones that you would think a
female should not take on; and I got the right
support from my colleagues and leaders. They
helped me through my stay in the field.
Later, I moved on to an operations engineer role.
After a couple of years, I felt hungry for more. I
wanted to learn about the business and how
investments were made in projects. So, I began to
look for roles that would provide such exposure.
Elohor Aiboni
Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and
Production Company (SNEPCo) Limited
Interview by Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme
The Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Explora on and
Produc on Company (SNEPCo) Limited, Mrs. Elohor Aiboni, talks
to The Energy Republic about Shell's latest updates for deepwater
opera ons, and other developments to enhance the company's
business ac vi es in Nigeria.
TER: Welcome back to the Post COVID-19 era. Congrats on your appointment as the Managing
Director of SNEPCo! Please could you shed more light on your career journey in the oil and gas
industry with emphasis on your track records at Shell Nigeria/SNEPCo?
Elohor: Thank you very much. It is, however, important to note that COVID-19 is still very much a
disease with us. We are continuously learning to better understand the controls that we need to
keep ourselves and our families safe. We must all contribute and play our part in eradicating the
I took on the role of Business Adviser to Executive
Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa which gave
me the exposure and privilege to work with great
leaders in Shell Nigeria, and outside Shell. This role
expanded my horizon, I got opportunities to
deliver through others and interacted more with
other senior leaders.
After the Business Adviser Role, I sought to work
on a major project and my operations background
enabled me to get the opportunity to work on the
Kashagan project in Kazakhstan, in operational
readiness and assurance, as the Senior Projects
Asset Engineer. I should say that this role
kickstarted my journey into the offshore space.
I saw the First Oil come up. Shortly after that, I left
Kazakhstan to come back to Nigeria to work as the
Handover Manager for divested assets. While I
was doing that, the opportunity came to become
the Operations Manager for the Sea Eagle Floating
Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.
This FPSO is in the shallow waters. It was a step in
the right direction for me as I had always wanted
to do something in the Deepwater space. I knew
that Deepwater was the future for us in Nigeria.
I took on the role and learned a lot about the FPSO.
My team was awesome! They made sure that I got
as much information as I needed to make
decisions as to the Asset Manager. The operations
manager’s role for the Bonga FPSO soon became
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THE ENERGY REPUBLIC I SPECIAL EDITION