Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, a leading Nigerian independent oil and gas player listed both on the Nigerian and London stock exchanges, says it remains committed to managing mature or old resource wells profitably and growing returns.
Addressing potential investors, industry professionals and other participants at the IADC Drilling Africa Conference & Exhibition 2020 held in Accra, Ghana between February 18 and 19, Seplat said this requires the right strategy, administration, and technology to optimise to make the right profits.
Speaking during a panel session titled: ‘Established Producing African Countries’, Effiong Okon, Executive Director, Operations, at Seplat, believes that any capable organization needs “robust/well-implemented strategy and deployment of latest technologies to optimise production capacity, companies can cost-effectively access and produce the remaining oil and gas in smaller reservoirs.
“In this light, Seplat employs a pro-active and innovative strategy towards optimising asset value and thereby extending the economic life of small assets.”
According to Okon, “Wells, Reservoirs and Facilities Management (WRFM) is key to sweating the assets and arresting production decline while developmental projects are aimed at filling ullage of existing facilities.
“Technologies deployed targets by-passed oil, attic oil, thin oil rims, improvement in productivity, (4D seismic, horizontal wells, geosteering, well stimulation),” he added.
Continuing, he said, “gas development of high and depleted pressure reservoirs (mechanical refrigerant vs Joule-Thompson), stripping out NGLs and LPG to maximize product yield and flares out.”
Okon stressed that Seplat’s Ovhor and Sapele fields that started production in the ‘70s continues to produce after 50 years at over 22m barrels of oil per day (Mbopd) and 10Mbopd with several infield drilling opportunities for production growth.
Smart investment, he continued, is required in the late-life of these assets with a focus on activities that deliver incremental positive Net Present Value, NPV (low-cost wells, commingled production, re-completing older wells, sidetracks, infield appraisal/exploration).
Participants at the conference, therefore, argued that the long-established African oil and gas producers are managing two distinct challenges at either end of the production spectrum: increasing complex and expensive new developments, and low value depleted fields under late-life investment or disposal.
It was further argued that new production from historical producers was now in smaller reserve pockets, reliant on expensive new technology, or requiring ever deeper offshore water depths.