…As company sweeps awards at NAPE 2025
Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited marked a strong appearance at the just-concluded 43rd Annual International Conference of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos.
One of the awards was in showing how to safely navigate the dual challenges of depleting reserves and high pressure while drilling.
Renaissance clinched four awards, including the coveted ‘Overall Best Exhibitor’ and ‘Best Technical Paper Presentation’, at the award dinner Thursday night.
Principal geoscientist, Owens Ovwigho Irifeta, earned the ‘Best Technical Paper Award’ for his presentation titled; “Safely Navigating the Dual Challenges of Depleted Reservoirs and High Pressure while Drilling.”
The company also secured honours for ‘Best Overall Exhibition’, ‘Best Exhibiting Indigenous Exploration and Production Company’, and ‘Best New Entrant’.
Industry sources said high pressure during drilling can lead to safety disasters such as blowouts and equipment damage, or operational challenges like stuck pipe and lost circulation. “To manage these risks, drilling operations must balance the wellbore pressure with the formation pressure by carefully adjusting the drilling fluid density with technologies such as managed pressure drilling and ‘pressure while drilling’ sensors to monitor and control pressures in real-time, ensuring a stable and safe drilling environment.” Irifeta was said to have dwelt heavily on these strategies and gave insightful tips backed with many years of experience, and thus clinched an award as best paper presenter.
NAPE Executive Committee was said to have noted that Renaissance’s performance stood out among a record number of participating companies and technical submissions, something seen as a reflection of the company’s growing influence in Nigeria’s upstream sector.
Read also: Lokpobiri hails Renaissance for boosting oil output, restoring gas supply to NLNG
Tony Attah, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Renaissance, expressed pride in the Renaissance team for their focus, dedication, and determination to keep the company ahead of the competition.
“This recognition affirms our trajectory of growth and commitment to supporting Nigeria’s energy ambitions. We remain focused on increasing oil and gas output to boost government revenues, catalyse industrialisation, and develop young energy talent,” Attah said.
He described the performance of the Renaissance team at the NAPE conference as an expression of the vision of the company to become Africa’s leading energy company, enabling energy security and industrialisation in a sustainable manner.
He dedicated the accolades to the company’s workforce, highlighting their resilience since Renaissance’s acquisition of Shell’s stake in the former SPDC earlier this year.
Renaissance previously earned similar honours in August at the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ 2025 Annual Conference.
Renaissance is the operator of the NNPC/Renaissance/TotalEnergies/AENR JV, Nigeria’s largest oil and gas joint venture, with assets spanning onshore and shallow-water fields, the Bonny and Forcados export terminals, and the Sea Eagle Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel, all in the Niger Delta.
Depleting reserves has become an issue in Nigeria’s oil industry. Nigeria’s oil reserves are said to have have slightly declined, now standing at 37.28 billion barrels, primarily due to low exploration activities, although the country’s gas reserves have increased. For over 20 years during the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) delays, Nigeria was said to have lost over $200bn in investment opportunities, and those lost years led to depleting reserves.
The reserves level is projected to last for about 64 years at the current production rate, a figure that highlights the need for increased investment in exploration to prevent future depletion, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
It is believed that reserves may rise as Nigeria now has a PIA and investors seem to have clear direction in the face of clear laws and regulations.
