Borr rig ends Gabon job with a bang: oil discovery opens new cluster door

Oslo-listed oil and gas E&P player BW Energy has made what it says is a substantial oil discovery at a field in the Dussafu license off the coast of Gabon, Africa, using a Borr Drilling jack-up rig.

The new oil discovery on the Bourdon prospect in the Dussafu license offshore Gabon was described by BW as substantial with good reservoir quality. The prospect forms part of the Hibiscus/Ruche development project and is located approximately 15 kilometers west of the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit BW Adolo near the Tortue field.

It is also situated 7.5 kilometers southeast of the MaBoMo offshore production facility, which is a repurposed jack-up drilling rig BW obtained under a sale and lease back agreement last April. 

The Oslo-listed player is the block’s operator and holds a 73.5% interest, with Panoro Energy and Gabon Oil Company as partners, holding 17.5% and 9% interests, respectively.

According to BW, the well was drilled to a total depth of 4,135 meters. The evaluation of logging data and formation pressure measurements confirm around 34 meters of pay in an overall hydrocarbon column of 45 meters in the Gamba formation, which Panoro claims is the largest hydrocarbon column discovered to date in the Dussafu license.

“The Bourdon appraisal well again confirms the significant resource potential of the Dussafu licence, which holds multiple additional prospects,” said Carl K. Arnet, CEO of BW Energy. “We will now carefully review the drilling results, but initial data indicates the potential for establishing a new development cluster with a production facility following the MaBoMo blueprint. We are evaluating a second sidetrack to further appraise the discovery”. 

As stated by Panoro’s CEO, John Hamilton, the final operation in the Dussafu drilling campaign resulted in four significant oil discoveries and eight new production wells across Hibiscus/Ruche. Paired with the six pre-existing wells at the Tortue field, this has increased total gross production on the block to around 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

“We are very pleased with the outcome of our latest drilling success on Dussafu at the Bourdon prospect. Once the final data from the well and an appraisal side-track, which may be drilled, is available we will work to delineate the extent of this exciting new discovery and provide an update on estimated resources,” noted Hamilton.

“What is apparent even at this early stage is that we have potentially established the foundation for a new development cluster on the block, which holds multiple additional prospects and leads.”

This was the last assignment for Borr Drilling’s Norve jack-up rig forming part of the production drilling campaign at Dussafu. According to BW, the new discovery will enable it to book additional reserves not included in its 2024 statement of reserves.

In January, the rig was used to drill the DHIBM-7H well at Dussafu and carry out a workover/ESP replacement program on several existing wells.

Borr Drilling also recently landed a multi-well contract for Norve with an unnamed operator in West Africa, set to start in Q3 2025. Vaalco Energy also hired the rig to carry out its 2025/2026 drilling program off the coast of Gabon.