Rex’s Akrake Petroleum Starts Drilling at Sèmè Field off Benin
August 5, 2025
Akrake Petroleum Benin, Rex International's indirect subsidiary, has spudded the first well in the Sèmè Field in Block 1 offshore Benin, using the Borr Drilling’s Gerd jack-up drilling rig.
The drilling is part of a 100-day three-well work program to redevelop the Sèmè field. The drilling campaign includes two horizontal production wells in the H6 formation (previously developed), as well as a deeper vertical appraisal well to gather data from the H7 and H8 reservoirs, to facilitate the potential advancement to Phase 2 of the development.
The drilling campaign for the phased development is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025, at which time the contracted refurbished Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) will arrive, along with a Floating Storage and Offloading unit (FSO).
After installation of the MOPU and the FSO, the MOPU will be hooked to the newly-drilled wells, and production is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2025 at initial production rates of approximately 15,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).
Along with the restart of production in the Sèmè field after almost three decades of inactivity, more data on the subsurface will be collected, to be analyzed together with recently reprocessed 3D seismic data obtained in 2007, for the optimization of further development of the field, such as untapping deeper reservoir sections.
“We are excited to bring oil production back to the Sèmè Field and to Benin after such a long time, and we would like to express our deep appreciation to the Benin authorities and our local partner Octogone E&P S.A. for their strong support and cooperation in all aspects of this drilling operation, allowing us to achieve first oil in as short a time as possible,” said Steve Moore, Deputy Chief Operating Officer of Rex and General Manager of Akrake Petroleum.
The drilling operation is being conducted with Borr Drilling’s Gerd jack-up rig.
To remind, in April 2025, Rex's Lime Petroleum, which owns Akrake Petroleum, signed a contract for Borr Drilling’s Gerd jack-up rig, to be used for an anticipated 120-day drilling campaign in Benin.
Akrake is the operator of the Sèmè Field in Benin, and holds approximately 76% working interest, with the remainder of the working interest held by the government of Benin (15%) and Octogone Trading (9%).
