Rex Begins Sèmè Field Drilling in Benin with Borr Gerd Rig, Targeting 15,000 BOPD by Q4 2025
Rex announced that Akrake Petroleum has spudded the first well in the Sèmè field, located in Block 1 off the coast of Benin, on August 4. The drilling, carried out with the Borr Gerd jack-up rig, marks the start of a 100-day, three-well campaign to redevelop the historic field in phases.
In April, Rex selected the 2018-built Gerd rig—constructed to PPL Pacific Class 400 specifications—for the project. The rig is capable of operating in water depths of up to 400 feet and drilling to a maximum depth of 30,000 feet.
The current program includes two horizontal production wells in the previously developed H6 formation, along with one deeper vertical appraisal well designed to gather data from the H7 and H8 reservoirs.
This new geological insight could pave the way for Phase 2 of the field’s redevelopment.
Steve Moore, Rex’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Akrake Petroleum, expressed enthusiasm about reviving oil production in the Sèmè field—and in Benin—after several decades.
He extended his thanks to the Benin authorities and local partner Octogone E&P S.A., noting their support has been critical in accelerating the path to first oil.
Rex aims to complete drilling by Q4 2025, coinciding with the arrival of a refurbished mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) and a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO).
Once in place, the MOPU will connect to the new wells, enabling production to begin at an initial rate of approximately 15,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).
Alongside the production restart—nearly 30 years after the field was shut in—the company will collect new subsurface data. This will be integrated with reprocessed 2007 3D seismic results to fine-tune the development plan and potentially unlock deeper reservoir targets.
An updated independent Qualified Person’s Report (QPR) estimates the H6 reservoir holds 11.4 million stock tank barrels (MMstb) of oil in low 1P reserves, 10.9 MMstb in base 2P reserves, and 13.6 MMstb in high 3P reserves.
Block 1 covers an area of 551 square kilometers in shallow waters 20–30 meters deep. The Sèmè field was first discovered by Union Oil in 1969 and later developed by Saga Petroleum.
Between 1982 and 1998, it produced approximately 22 million barrels of oil before being shut down due to low oil prices and high water cut.
Under the production sharing contract for Block 1, Akrake Petroleum—an affiliate of Rex—holds a 76% working interest, the government of Benin holds 15%, and Octogone Trading holds 9%.
Akrake was established as a special-purpose vehicle for the project and is wholly owned by Lime Petroleum, itself 80.14% owned by Rex.
