Unleashing stranded reserves at African offshore field with first drilling ops since 1984

Perenco Rio del Rey, one of Perenco Group’s Cameroon subsidiaries, has embarked on a five-well development drilling campaign at a field off the coast of Cameroon, Central Africa. This field has not seen any drilling action since 1984 due to challenging shallow waters and strong currents.

Perenco explains that the drilling operations at the Kita Eden field in the northern section of the Rio del Rey Basin are part of its commitment following the 2023 signing of a twenty-year license agreement with the Cameroon state and the firm’s partner, Addax Petroleum Cameroon.

Armel Simondin, MD of Perenco Rio del Rey and Perenco Group CEO designate, commented: “Once again, we are demonstrating our firm commitment and ability to unlock stranded reserves in very mature fields. As a result of this campaign, Cameroon can look forward to the Kita Eden field still producing for decades to come.”

The company and its services subsidiary, Dixstone, have designed and built a shallow-water barge specifically for the campaign to address the shallow water and strong current conditions at the site location. This badge is expected to complement Dixstone’s LUG platform with a maximum drilling depth of 16,000 ft.

Perenco’s production in Cameroon is 90,000 boepd, with 50% being oil and the remaining 50% being gas. Over the past five years, the platform has delivered more than 16 million barrels of oil in Cameroon, which Perenco entered in 1993 with the acquisition of the Moudi concession, in association with Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures.

Perenco began the development of the Sanaga gas field in 2013 to supply the KPDC power plant, which provides 30% of the country’s electricity. A few years later, the firm initiated a liquefied natural gas (LNG) development project with the FLNG Hilli Episeyo, said to be the first floating liquefaction plant in the world.

Perenco is currently undertaking drilling activities in another African country, thanks to the spudding of an appraisal well close to the Hylia South West discovery, which was made in December 2022 off the coast of Gabon through the exploration well HYSM-1.