Exploration

The government of Gambia has announced that it will license hydrocarbon blocks in a competitive selection process, a move that aims to develop the vast hydrocarbon opportunities in the country and wider Senegal basin

Nigeria is processing applications for establishing seven modular refineries in the state, said Dr Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state petroleum resources, noting that three of the applications have reached the approval stage

With oil reserves of 129.1 billion barrels, Africa holds 7.6 per cent of the world’s proven reserves. More specifically, the West Coast of Africa is home to the continent’s two largest producing countries, Nigeria and Angola, while Equatorial Guinea, the Congo and Gabon have proven oil reserves not dissimilar to those found in the United Kingdom

While the West Coast of Africa has been on the radar of many well intervention contractors for a while, it is fair to say that workover and P&A activity has recently been ramping up all the way from Mauritania to Angola. A multitude of factors can be linked to this increase in well work projects, including:

• Regulatory Imperatives: As West African nations develop their oil & gas regimes, more scrutiny is being applied to operators to ensure they truly maximise the value of their assets during production and make sure thatboth financial and operational plans are put in place for safe P&A and decommissioning activities.

• Oil Price: As in other parts of the world, the current oil price has led to a decrease in drilling activity and is forcing operators to look at their existing well stock for ways of increasing production and maximising ROI.

• Technology: While investment is still being pumped into exploration projects throughout the region (BP announced a US$1bn partnership with Kosmos in Mauritania and Senegal and 8 of the top-20 discoveries in 2015 were in Africa), regional and international operators are looking at innovative technologies that will lower the cost of well intervention and increase the efficiency of operations for existing fields. 

With well intervention and P&A activity ramping up from Mauritania to Angola, operators are working more collaboratively with contractors taking advantage of new business development opportunities offshore West Africa. Offshore Network are therefore excited to be launching their first well intervention and P&A market analysis dedicated to the West Coast of Africa. The report offers:

• An analysis of common drivers for activity as well as West African well work hotspots to highlight which areas are ripe for well intervention and P&A projects  

• A review of recent regional projects including a LWI safety valve remediation, a 7-well rigless live well intervention campaign and several P&A projects

• An overview of technologies required to drive project efficiency including LWI vessels, riserless technology, coiled tubing, downhole tools, cementing & data logging tools

You can access the whitepaper at http://tinyurl.com/west-africa-report

Halliburton has been working alongside the Akwa Ibom state government to inaugurate and open Nigeria’s first oil and gas training centre