Explorationists Bet on Tech to De-risk Nigeria’s Deepwater Acreages

Peter Uzoho 

Nigeria can arrest oil production decline and lift reserves by adopting modern Controlled Source Electromagnetic (CSEM) technology to de-risk deepwater exploration, Global Exploration Advisor at EMGS, Mr. Dag Helland-Hansen, has said. 

Speaking to THISDAY at the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) Monthly Technical Meeting held in Lagos, themed: “Unlocking Hidden Value: Re-evaluating Deepwater Nigeria Prospectivity Through Modern CSEM Reprocessing,” Helland-Hansen said CSEM is now mature enough to transform outcomes in Nigeria.

“CSEM is an independent geophysical technique, similar to seismic but different. And it works now because the processing has come to interpret the data well, which we could not do before 2020. Nigeria is one of those geologic areas it will work the best”, he said.

Unlike seismic, CSEM measures subsurface resistivity to detect hydrocarbon saturation directly. 

He explained that where seismic would define the overall prospectivity, CSEM define the saturation of each block, adding that this helps operators drill the better prospects early on and accelerate production and arrest the decline.

Helland-Hansen said CSEM lowers exploration risk, making projects bankable as financiers shun risky drilling.  According to him, by applying CSEM, operators will get a lower risk exploration portfolio while an investor will have a much higher chance of finding something.

He urged indigenous firms to “take acreage, work it up, do the right work, and then get the super majors to come in and help them drill their well.” Small companies, he noted, cannot survive dry holes like super-majors. 

He explained that most will need to be with the super majors due to deepwater capital and competency demands, while the international oil companies (IOCs) need smaller firms looking at new ideas, testing things to generate prospects.

He called on the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to include CSEM in bid round work programmes, citing Norway’s model. 

He said this would be beneficial for the national economy because it requires less spending on exploration and  producing better results.

Comparing Nigeria to Norway, he said Nigeria has immense resource potential in the deeper offshore that can not only arrest the decline but can lift the production.

CSEM, he added, identifies both volumes and reservoir quality needed to anchor new deepwater hubs.

President of NAPE, Mrs. Olajumoke Ajayi, underscored the critical role of advanced data reprocessing technologies in unlocking Nigeria’s untapped deepwater hydrocarbon resources, urging industry professionals to prioritise precision in subsurface imaging to reduce risk and optimise value.

Similarly, NAPE President–elect, Dr. Anthony Ofoma, emphasised the importance of collective engagement in advancing the association’s objectives.