Borr rig embarks on multi-well oil & gas drilling job in Asia, another unit joining next month

October 21, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

UK-headquartered oil and gas player Pharos Energy has confirmed the start of drilling activities in Block 16-1, located in the shallow water Cuu Long Basin, off the coast of Vietnam. A jack-up rig, owned by Borr Drilling, an offshore drilling player, has begun this drilling assignment in Asia and will work on it alongside another mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU), which will start its job in mid-November 2025.

Thor rig; Source: Crystal Offshore via LinkedIn

Pharos, which has kicked off its six-well infill and appraisal drilling program in Vietnam with the first infill well on the TGT field targeting the H1 fault block, claims that it has the balance sheet strength to fund this program fully.

The campaign, which includes four TGT wells and two CNV wells, will employ two Borr Drilling’s rigs, Gunnlod and Thor. While the drilling operations on TGT will be completed using the first rig, CNV will use the second MODU.

The program for TGT is expected to take 28 days to drill and complete the H1 infill well. Afterward, the Gunnlod rig will move to spud the H5 infill well. Drilling operations on the four TGT wells are slated to finish in H1 2026.

Depending on the weather window, drilling of the TGT-18X appraisal well, targeting the block’s untapped western area, is scheduled to begin in early December and take around 40 days to complete before the rig can start drilling the final TGT infill well in the sequence, TGT-H4.

The Thor rig is expected to mobilize to CNV in early November. These drilling operations are scheduled to commence in mid-November, starting with the CNV-8P infill well, which is expected to take 90 days.

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The drilling of the second and final CNV well, the CNV-5X appraisal well, intended to unlock the potential of the northern part of the field, is expected to start in mid-February and take 108 days to complete.

This part of the drilling program is also anticipated to be completed by mid-2026. The six-well drilling campaign is designed to drive material production growth from existing fields from 2026 and to de-risk additional development opportunities.

According to Pharos, all six wells can be brought immediately online as they are drilled from existing facilities, enabling the firm to see material incremental volumes from current production levels and a de-risking of additional development opportunities.

Katherine Roe, Pharos’ Chief Executive Officer, commented: “This important and material campaign is the most significant investment into our Vietnamese assets since the initial development and is designed to drive material production growth from both fields from 2026 onwards.

“The total capex for this Vietnam programme is expected to be c. $36 million. The Board, having run this investment through its capital allocation framework, is satisfied the returns from the investment will be higher than other uses of capital.”

Borr Drilling has won multiple new assignments for its rigs recently, including three contracts for two jack-up rigs in Europe and West Africa.