By Bassey Udo
Sahara Group says it recently acquired seven new oil rigs as part of its aggressive drive to expand its upstream capacity to realize a 350,000 barrels per day production target within the next five years.
The global energy and infrastructure conglomerate said its acquisition of seven brand new rigs was part of its plan to accelerate the pace of its operations to ensure a more efficient production.
The company’s Chief Technical Officer, Asharami Energy, a Sahara Group Upstream Company, Leste Aihevba, said the plans would be driven by a significant upgrade of its Exploration and Production service offerings and development of its execution capacity.
Aihevba disclosed this while engaging investors and stakeholders at a strategic meeting on the sidelines of the recently concluded Africa Energy Week in Cape Town, South Africa where he also underscored the critical importance of local collaboration and regional cooperation to position Africa as a global energy leader.
“The journey towards a secure and sustainable energy future for Africa cannot be travelled in silos,” Aihevba said.
“Every refinery upgrade, every gas commercialization project, every power reform and community wealth accretion initiative must be part of a broader continental blueprint,” he added.
Aihevba said Sahara’s massive infrastructure development drive was transforming its operations and boosting its production capacity and global competitiveness in Africa’s energy sector.
“At Sahara Group, we continue to invest in the infrastructure needed to responsibly unlock Africa’s resources across our upstream, midstream, power and infrastructure businesses, covering the full value chain” he stated.
“We have expanded our reserves development and production capacity with the acquisition of seven rigs for both drilling and workover. This bold and strategic drive also complements our efforts geared towards accelerating the pace from exploration to production, enhancing local content participation, and ensuring Africa efficiently develops the reserves that will power the continent’s growth and energy future,” he said.
This rig acquisition, Aihebva explained, was central to Sahara’s plan to boost its production to at least 350,000 bbl/d of oil and 1,000,000 MMScf/d of gas in Nigeria within the next five years.
He said two of the seven new rigs were already in Nigeria with another two expected to arrive before year-end.
Sahara’s upstream operations, he pointed out, were anchored on a robust shared prosperity approach, which he said recognises the company’s host communities and government as partners, while collaborating towards becoming locally competent and globally competitive in bringing energy to life responsibly.
These investments, he noted, were already yielding results, asding that one of the newly acquired rigs, which is the state-of-the-art 2000 HP Land rig named L-Buba, has successfully commenced operations by spudding a gas development well in one of Sahara’s fields, with the second rig currently being mobilised to site to spud an oil development well, and others rigs to follow soon.
The rigs, he said,would be managed by Arahas Global Oilfield Services, a Sahara Group company.
By matching its investments in infrastructure with development and deployment of exceptional human capital, fostering cross-border partnerships, localizing global technical expertise, and technology adoption, he said the company was making marked contributions to the growing efforts towards accelerating Africa’s energy transition while ensuring no community is left behind.
