Akrake Petroleum, a fully owned unit of Lime Petroleum Holding, which itself is majority owned by Singapore based Rex International Holding, plans to begin oil production from an offshore field near Benin before the end of January 2026.
The company started drilling the first of three wells at the Sèmè field in August 2025 using Borr Drilling’s Gerd jack up rig as part of the Block 1 development. Technical problems slowed progress and pushed the expected production start from late 2025.
Akrake has now set a revised schedule, saying first oil should be achieved by the end of January 2026. This depends on completing drilling of the AK 2H production well in the reservoir section, which is expected to begin this week.
The drilling program includes one exploration well, AK 1P, aimed at gathering data on deeper hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs H7 and H8 that have not yet been produced. It also includes two horizontal production wells, AK 1H and AK 2H, targeting the H6 reservoir.
Rex explained that drilling through unstable shale layers above the reservoir proved more difficult than expected. Several stuck pipe incidents caused delays and required sections of the well to be drilled again.
The company said the drilling team adjusted its approach using new geo mechanical data gathered during operations. These changes allowed the team to successfully drill through the problematic overburden in the AK 2H well.
Akrake also confirmed that the mobile offshore production unit Stella Energy 1 and the floating storage and offloading vessel Kristina have been upgraded and positioned at the site. The company contracted both units in April 2025.
Union Oil discovered the Sèmè field in 1969 within Block 1, an area covering 551 square kilometers in shallow waters between 20 and 30 meters deep. Norway’s Saga Petroleum later carried out the first development of the field.
Between 1982 and 1998, the Sèmè field produced about 22 million barrels of oil. Operators halted production in the late 1990s after oil prices fell.
source: www.offshore-energy.bi
African Energy Council