Offshore Africa: Drilling restarts in Congo, Bouri gas scope expands, Tano Basin reimaging advances

Offshore operators and service providers are pressing ahead with new drilling programs, project expansions and subsurface reimaging across Africa’s offshore basins.

Recent developments include Perenco launching a second drilling campaign offshore Republic of Congo, expanded offshore construction and survey work tied to Libya’s Bouri Gas Utilisation Project, and the latest phase of seismic reimaging in Côte d’Ivoire’s Tano Basin aimed at sharpening exploration and development insights.

Perenco starts second drilling campaign offshore Republic of Congo

Perenco Congo has started a new five-year drilling campaign on the Masseko oil field offshore Republic of Congo.

This should increase production while also testing a new geological horizon. Gregoire de Courcelles, managing director of Perenco Congo, said initial drilling results had been positive.

Moreover, late last year, the company completed a five infill well drilling program on the offshore Tchibouela East Field, which has raised oil production by 6,000 bbl/d.

Techniques employed included horizontal and u-shaped wells to boost oil recovery. The field has been in operation for almost three decades.

Next Geo’s support scope expanded for Bouri gas project offshore Libya

Next Geosolutions’ contract with Saipem for the Bouri Gas Utilisation (BGUP) project offshore Libya has been amended to cover expanded activity, bringing the total value to more than €70 million (US$82.2 million).

The project will develop associated gas from the Bouri Field, and it involves the installation of a new gas recovery module, along with upgrades and enhancements to existing facilities.

Next Geo’s contract, covering survey and installation support, involves deployment of the NG Worker and NG Surveyor vessels for offshore touch down monitoring activities, using work class ROVs, and construction support, including delivery of pipes during the installation phases performed by Saipem.

And Rana Subsea (Next Geo majority owner) also has an expanded contract scope for the same project, covering provision of diving and installation services, with the award a new tender for further activities.

Viridien embarks on latest phase of offshore Tano Basin reimaging

Viridien has started work on the 6,555-sq km CDI25 seismic reimaging project over the Tano Basin offshore Côte d’Ivoire.

This will form part of a larger Côte d’Ivoire subsurface reimaging program that Viridien began four years ago, upgrading seismic data and interpretation across the basin.

Workflows for the present phase will include Ghost Wavefield Elimination, de-multiple and time-lag full-waveform inversion (TL-FWI) to improve bandwidth, deep imaging and structural/stratigraphic detail.

Viridien plans to issue fast-track results in the fourth quarter of this year, followed by final deliverables by second-quarter 2027. 

Once complete, the overall reimaging program should create a seamless, basin-scale 3D seismic volume providing more than 16,000 sq km of coverage, the company said.

Explorers should benefit from enhanced prospectivity assessment and play understanding, Viridien added, including subsurface insight into Eni’s recent discovery within the Calao Channel complex, and extended regional context into the adjacent acreage covering the deepwater Baleine Field.