Drilling returns to West Africa's abandoned oil field after 27 years

Business Insider

2 days ago

After a 27-year hiatus, drilling has resumed at one of West Africa's oldest offshore oil fields, as Singapore-based Akrake Petroleum spearheads a major redevelopment of the Sèmè field off the coast of Benin.
Drilling has resumed at the Sèmè offshore oil field in Benin after a 27-year hiatus, led by Singapore-based Akrake Petroleum.
The project marks a revival for the site, which was last active in 1998, having previously yielded approximately 22 million barrels of oil.
This initiative has implications for reducing Benin's oil import dependency, attracting investment, and enhancing its regional economic standing.
The move marks a significant revival for a site first discovered in 1969 and last active in 1998, when operations ceased due to low oil prices and excessive water production.
For context, one of Africa's leading oil-producing nations, Nigeria, made its first major commercial oil discovery at the Oloibiri Oilfield on January 15, 1956 - just 13 years earlier.
That landmark discovery ended over five decades of unsuccessful exploration by various international oil companies and catapulted Nigeria onto the global stage as a major oil producer.
According to a report by Offshore Energy, the field lies within Block 1, where Akrake holds a 76% stake under a production sharing contract, alongside the Government of Benin (15%) and Octogone Trading (9%).
Akrake, itself a special-purpose company fully owned by Rex's subsidiary Lime Petroleum, is tasked with assessing the site's long-term development potential.
Benin eyes potential oil windfall
The redevelopment of the Sèmè offshore oil field marks a pivotal moment for Benin, a country absent from Africa's oil production map for nearly three decades.
Production at the field ceased in 1998 after yielding roughly 22 million barrels, halted by falling global oil prices and rising water content. Since then, Benin has had virtually no upstream activity, depending entirely on imports to meet its petroleum needs.
The resumption of drilling signals Benin's potential return to the ranks of West Africa's oil producers. While it remains too early to gauge the size of commercially recoverable reserves, the project carries broader implications.
It could also reduce the nation's dependence on imported refined products, diversify government revenues, and attract downstream investments.
The revival may also bolster Benin's standing within regional blocs like ECOWAS, where energy cooperation and cross-border infrastructure are gaining prominence.
If successful, the phased redevelopment could re-establish Benin as a modest upstream player in the Gulf of Guinea, while underscoring the growing role of Asian energy companies in breathing new life into West Africa's legacy oil assets.