Nigerian Engineer’s Innovation Delivers Fastest Offshore Well in Record Time

By Ugo Aliogo

The bright lights of the Baltic jack-up rig illuminated the dark waters of the Niger Delta as Joshua Umejuru stood on deck, watching another milestone unfold in Nigeria’s offshore drilling sector. In just 21 days, the team had completed what would become the fastest well ever drilled by a jack-up rig in Nigerian waters, an achievement that would set new benchmarks for operational efficiency in the region.

As a Drilling and Completion Supervisor for TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, Umejuru had directly supervised drilling and completion operations for approximately seven oil wells that year, work that culminated in a significant production increase of around 20,000 barrels per day. But it was the speed and efficiency of operations that truly captured industry attention, demonstrating that Nigerian offshore projects could compete with the best drilling performance anywhere in the world.

The achievement didn’t come from a single brilliant decision but from meticulous attention to detail across every phase of operations. Umejuru’s approach emphasized proactive problem-solving and keen observation, qualities that proved their worth when he detected a washout crack in a bottom hole assembly stabilizer during drilling operations on the Frigg jack-up rig. That eagle-eyed catch potentially saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in fishing costs and prevented days of non-productive time.

The work required more than technical expertise. Umejuru had been involved in the reactivation and startup of two jack-up rigs, Baltic and Frigg, complex operations that demanded coordination across multiple contractors, equipment vendors, and regulatory bodies. Each rig reactivation represented months of preparation, testing, and certification before the first bit could touch formation.

His days were filled with operational debriefs and lessons-learned sessions with offshore site teams, meetings where experiences were shared and best practices identified. Umejuru championed well sentinel presentations, emphasizing key rig site roles and responsibilities to ensure every team member understood their critical part in safe operations. In an industry where a single mistake could prove catastrophic, this focus on safety culture wasn’t just good practice, it was essential.

The path to this success had been built over years of progressive experience. Having started as a Rig Engineer and Assistant Drilling and Completion Supervisor in 2015, Umejuru had worked his way through increasingly complex assignments. He had led pre-spud meetings when senior engineers were unavailable, conducted drilling operations follow-up for each well phase, and offered technical recommendations that prevented potential stuck pipe situations.

His experience included managing some of the most challenging scenarios in drilling: kick events, well ballooning, and stuck pipe situations. These weren’t just technical problems to solve but moments that tested judgment under pressure. Umejuru had learned from what the industry euphemistically called “train wrecks,” incorporating those hard-won lessons into a growing register of knowledge that would benefit future operations.

These achievements represented more than personal success. They demonstrated that with the right combination of technical skill, operational discipline, and safety focus, Nigerian offshore operations could achieve world-class performance. For Umejuru, it was another step in a journey that had begun years earlier in Shell’s graduate program, where he had rotated through flow stations and gas plants, building the broad operational foundation that now served him so well.