Nigeria has caught up with Angola in the drilling of crude oil, as both nations are now the biggest crude oil drilling markets in Africa, data from the June 2023 Offshore Rigs Tracker, released on Monday by Hawilti and the Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc, showed.
Nigeria lost its position as top African oil producer several times on the back of repeated crude theft and pipeline vandalism, but is now showing signs of recovery, going by the recent monthly oil production figures released by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
“Nigeria has caught up with Angola to also take the position of biggest drilling market this year, with a total of eight drilling campaigns confirmed offshore in both countries.
“However, activity is likely to remain higher in Angola as most drilling campaigns there are confirmed until the second half of 2024 already to support exploratory, infill, and development drilling,” the report stated.
It said several of the oil rigs mobilised offshore Nigeria had been extended, including the Valaris DS-10 for SNEPCo (Shell), and Shelf Drillings Baltic and Mentor rigs, for TotalEnergies and First E&P, respectively.
In addition, it stated that Shelf Drilling had also secured new contracts for the Adriatic I and the Scepter units which were providing a boost to Nigeria’s offshore drilling activities.
“The former is for drilling on Oriental Energy Resources Ebok Field scheduled between May and August this year, while the latter is for a much longer, two-year contract for an undisclosed operator.
“In total, Nigeria will see eight offshore drilling campaigns take place this year at any point in time, putting it at the same level as Angola,” the report stated. The report further stated that Africa’s offshore rigs count had kept growing since the start of 2023, with 38 drilling rigs contracted this year so far.
A breakdown on the number of rigs mobilised on the continent in 2023 showed that West Africa had 16, Southern Africa, 13; Central Africa,11; East Africa, 0.
The report stated that in West Africa, “Nigeria is finally back in business with most rigs schedules extended and new contracts signed since the start of the year. Credit: punchng.com
