Rex International Holding Limited has chosen Hannam & Partners, a London-based independent investment bank, as its exclusive corporate finance advisor for the awarded production sharing contract (PSC) involving an offshore oilfield near Benin in West Africa.
This comes shortly after Akrake Petroleum, Rex’s joint venture company, signed a PSC for operatorship and a 76% working interest in Block 1, which encompasses the Sèmè oilfield offshore Benin in West Africa. Akrake will initially redevelop the field and apply its low-cost production system, comprising a jack-up mobile production unit (MOPU) and a floating storage unit (FSO), to restart production.
H&P will support Rex with strategic corporate finance advice about capital fundraising, corporate and asset transactions for this PSC in West Africa, and potentially other strategic growth initiatives for the firm’s oil and gas business.
John d’Abo, Rex’s Executive Vice Chairman, commented: “Following the award of Block 1, Sèmè Field in Benin, we are actively evaluating financing for organic growth and potential inorganic growth opportunities. We look forward to leveraging H&P’s expertise and will update the market in due course.”
Covering 551 km2, Block-1, which was discovered in 1967 by Union Oil, is located in shallow water of 20 to 30 meters with onshore facilities and a tank farm for processing oil production. The Sèmè field, first developed by Norway’s Saga Petroleum, produced approximately 22 MMbl between 1982 and 1998, before production was stopped prematurely due to low oil prices of around $14 per barrel in 1998.
As the Sèmè field’s previous drilling campaigns (2014–2015) confirmed the presence of additional deeper hydrocarbon accumulations of oil and gas, we plan to conduct further appraisal tests alongside early production drilling.
