Akrake Petroleum spudded the first well in the Sèmè Field in Block 1, Benin, using the Borr Gerd jackup drilling rig. The drilling is part of a 100-day, three-well work program to redevelop the Sèmè Field. The campaign includes two horizontal production wells in the H6 formation and 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 Q4 2025, at which time the contracted refurbished Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) will arrive, along with a Floating Storage & 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 Q4 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.（2025-08-12）