With a fine of over 1.5 billion barrels of oil in its Afina well in Ghana’s deep waters, Springfield Exploration and Production Limited (SEP), not only makes history as the first indigenous and independent African company to achieve such a giant feat but also one that made it into world records as one of the top 10 most significant global hydrocarbon discoveries in 2019.
A fairly new entrant into Ghana’s oil and gas upstream sector, SEP-a subsidiary of the Springfield Group also made it onto the United Kingdom-based IHS Markit- a world-class intelligence gathering organization- listed as one of five global oil companies to have made discoveries in deepwater and the singular indigenous company on the continent.
Drilling And Discovery;
SEP, together with its partners – the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and GNPC EXPLORCO – after its first-ever Afina-1 well drilling campaign in the West Cape Three Points (WCTP) Block 2 offshore Ghana, officially pronounced this significant oil discovery in November 2019.
The well, sited at a water depth of 1030 meters, was drilled to a total depth of 4085 meters and encountered light oil with a gross thickness of 65 meters, with 50 meters of light net oil paid in good quality Cenomian sandstones, the company reported.
Moreover, the secondary target in turning age sands was drilled at the edge of the structure and encountered 10 meters of hydrocarbon-bearing sands consisting of light oil and gas. With this find, the company more than doubled its discovered oil in place volume to 1.5 billion barrels and added 0.7tcf of gas to the existing discoveries. Estimates of the current undiscovered potential of the Block is over 3 billion barrels of oil and gas in multiple leads and prospects within various proven reservoir units.
Earlier in the year, Springfield had contracted the Ram from Titan by Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) -the world’s largest seismic vessel- to carry out a 3-D seismic data acquisition on the Block. The company subsequently contracted Stena Unicom Offshore Services Ghana Ltd, one of the world’s foremost independent drilling contractors for a drilling campaign that lasted three months.
At the beginning of October 2019, Springfield spudded the first of its much-awaited new wells off the coast of Ghana using the Stena Forth drillship, one of the most sophisticated vessels of its kind and capable of operating in up to 10,000 feet of water and drilling to a depth of 35,000 feet. The next stop for the Stena Forth after Afina-1x will be the drilling of Oak-1x.
Beginning operations in 2008 as a frontline in Ghana’s downstream sector, Springfield grew to become a Bulk Distributor in 2010 engaging in the procurement, sale, and distribution of petroleum products to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and refineries in the country.
Over the next half-decade, the company rapidly became one of the leading exporters of refined products to neighboring land-locked countries; Mali and Burkina Faso.
Springfield was also the first independent Ghanaian company to lift the Government of Ghana’s crude oil entitlement from the TEN field in 2016 and 2017.
The Springfield Exploration and Production is currently the Operator and Majority Interest Holder with an 84 percent stake in the West Cape Three Points Block 2 (WCTP2) offshore Ghana, with GNPC and its exploration company, EXPLORCO, holding the remaining interest. The company was awarded its pioneer oil and gas asset by the government of Ghana in 2016.
Aspirations;
The company hopes that its successes offshore and the experience it has gathered thus far would inspire other companies in Ghana and Africa to become great players in the offshore terrain. “That is our greatest hope and prayer, that this opens the doors for more Ghanaians to become significant players in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons,” said Kevin Okyere.
Early on in 2019, the London Stock Exchange named Springfield one of the most inspirational businesses in Africa. Coupled with this recognition, the company has a Certificate of Excellence as the E&P Newcomer to the Africa Region.