Akrake seeks resumption of drilling on Sèmè oilfield offshore Benin
Rex International Holding expects drilling to resume later this year on the shallow-water Sèmè Field in Block 1 offshore Republic of Benin.
The company has an indirect 80.14% interest in Akrake Petroleum Benin, which plans to drill one vertical exploration and appraisal well in mid-2025 to test multiple reservoirs on the field.
Akrake Petroleum, a subsidiary of Porto Novo Resources, first signed a production sharing contract for Block 1 offshore Benin in December 2023.
Union Oil discovered Sèmè in 1969. Norwegian independent Saga Petroleum developed the field in 1982. Over the next 16 years, production from the H6 reservoir yielded 22 MMbbl before the field was shut down prematurely.
If this year’s well is successful, it will be converted for use as a vertical producer, followed by drilling of two horizontal wells in 2026.
The planned production system would comprise a drilling platform, a mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) and a floating storage and offtake (FSO) unit for storage.
In mid-2024, Rex International Investments entered an agreement with Monarch Marine Holding and Peter M. Steimler to combine Lime Petroleum and Porto Novo Resources into a new joint venture company incorporated under the laws of Norway.
In October 2024, TGS announced it was expanding 3D seismic coverage for its offshore Benin MegaSurvey, in cooperation with Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures du Bénin (SNH-B). At the time, the company said it planned to add 2,248 sq km of conventional 3D data from the continental shelf to the slope, with a view to revealing previously untapped exploration potential.
