Sèmè oil field startup offshore Benin pushed back to end of January

Rex International Holding expects its part-owned subsidiary Akrake Petroleum to start production at the end of January from the redeveloped Sèmè oil field in Block 1 offshore Benin.

Operations should get under way shortly to complete drilling of production well AK-2H in the reservoir section.

Both the upgraded mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) Stella Energy 1 and the floating storage & offloading unit (FSO) Kristina are on location ready for operational start-up.

Akrake’s drilling campaign comprises the AK-1P exploration well, designed to obtain further information on deeper, hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs (H7 and H8) not previously developed in Sèmè; and the horizontal production wells AK-1H and AK-2H in the H6 reservoir unit.

However, progress has been slower than anticipated due to technical issues drilling through the geomechanically unstable shale layers in the overburden above the reservoir. This led to various stuck pipe incidents, and required re-drilling of the overburden section.

Rex said the drilling crew resolved the problem by using new geo-mechanical data from the current operations to optimise the drilling parameters. The Borr Gerd jackup has since drilled successfully through the overburden in the AK-2H production well.

Once this well has gone onstream, work on the other two wells will be suspended as the contract for the rig concludes. Akrake plans to bring in a replacement rig later in the year to finish the drilling campaign.

Using production data from AK-2H, the company will also assess the potential for adding another production well in the H6 reservoir in this second campaign.

Block 1 covers an area of 551 sq km in water depths of 20-30 m. Union Oil discovered the Sèmè field in 1968. Norwegian E&P company Saga Petroleum operated the initial development, which produced 22 MMbbl between 1982 and 1998 before production was halted due to low oil prices at the time ($14/bbl).

Akrake’s redevelopment plan involves a combination of horizontal wells and modern completion technology for water control to maximise oil recovery.

Previous exploratory drilling on the field during 2014-2015 revealed additional deeper hydrocarbon accumulations of oil and gas, with the current appraisal program intended to firm up volumes.