Benin Resumes Oil Drilling at Sèmè Offshore Field After 27-Year Hiatus with Akrake Petroleum
After nearly three decades of inactivity, drilling has resumed at one of West Africa’s oldest offshore oil fields. Singapore-based Akrake Petroleum is leading a major redevelopment of the historic Sèmè field, located off the coast of Benin.
The site, first discovered in 1969, was last active in 1998, when operations ceased due to low global oil prices and excessive water production. At the time, it had produced roughly 22 million barrels of crude.
According to Offshore Energy, the Sèmè 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 is a special-purpose company wholly owned by Lime Petroleum, a subsidiary of Rex International Holding. The company’s mandate is to assess and unlock the field’s long-term production potential.
Benin has been absent from Africa’s oil production landscape for almost 30 years, relying entirely on petroleum imports to meet domestic demand.
The restart of drilling at Sèmè marks a potential turning point, opening the door for Benin to rejoin the ranks of West African oil producers.
If successful, the project could help reduce the country’s dependence on imported refined products, diversify government revenue streams, and attract downstream investments.
The redevelopment may also enhance Benin’s position within regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), where energy cooperation and cross-border infrastructure projects are becoming increasingly important.
Moreover, the venture highlights the growing influence of Asian energy companies in revitalizing West Africa’s legacy oil assets, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea.
While the volume of commercially recoverable reserves remains to be determined, the phased redevelopment of Sèmè could restore Benin as a modest yet strategic upstream player in the region.
