BW handpicks 6th-gen rig for Orange Basin drilling assignment

July 28, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

Oslo-listed oil and gas E&P player BW Energy has picked a semi-submersible rig owned by Northern Ocean (NOL) and managed by Odfjell Drilling for a drilling gig in Namibia’s Orange Basin.

The Oslo-listed player has selected the Deepsea Mira semi-submersible rig for the drilling of the Kharas appraisal well on the petroleum production licence 003 (PPL003), known as Kudu, offshore Namibia. The assignment is scheduled to start in the second half of 2025.

According to BW Energy, the deal forms part of a recently announced rig-sharing arrangement with Rhino Resources. Thanks to this, the operator will gain access to an in-country rig and a services team with experience in the Orange Basin.

Odfjell Drilling-managed rig gets work offshore Namibia

Project & Tenders

Delivered in 2018, the Deepsea Mira is a sixth-generation semi-submersible drilling and service unit whose design is based on Moss Maritime CS60E. It is fit for drilling gigs in benign and harsh environments at water depths of up to 3,000 meters.

Situated in the northern Orange sub-basin, approximately 130 kilometers off the south-west coast of Namibia, the Kudu license covers 4,567 square kilometers in a water depth of around 170 metres. The field was discovered in 1974 with the Kudu-1 discovery and is delineated by seven subsequent wells.

BW Energy is the operator of the Kudu license with a 95% working interest, while the remaining 5% is held by NAMCOR E&P, a subsidiary of Namibia’s national oil company.

BW decided to drill an appraisal well targeting the Kharas prospect after acquiring around 5,000 square kilometers of 3D seismic to identify potential upside targets in the Kudu license in 2023. The decision was also supported by the recent uptick in exploration activity and discoveries made in the vicinity.

An updated development strategy for the field’s gas-to-power project is in the works, incorporating a modified semi-submersible drilling rig that would act as a floating production unit (FPU). The operator expects the repurposed facility to streamline the project timeline and decrease capital investments compared to previous development approaches.

In addition to Africa, the Oslo-listed player has been busy in Brazil. In May, the final investment decision (FID) was taken for the Maromba field development, targeting 500 million barrels of oil in place.