UK oil & gas firm’s drilling plans run into setback due to Borr rig’s holdup on current assignment

UK-based oil and gas company Tower Resources is working on ironing out a new drilling date for an asset offshore Cameroon with Borr Drilling, a compatriot offshore drilling player. The firm still intends to spud its well this year, despite the news that a jack-up rig it hired for the job will need to stay longer on its ongoing assignment after securing an extension.

Tower Resources hired Borr Drilling’s Norve jack-up rig in December 2023 to drill the NJOM-3 well. The rig was expected to be available in Cameroon between April and August 2024, enabling the drilling activities at the well to begin in Q2 or possibly Q3 2024. 

In February 2024, the offshore drilling contractor narrowed down the rig mobilization timeline by claiming that the jack-up would be able to move to Cameroon between June and August 2024, subject to its existing contractual commitments.

However, the UK oil and gas player has been advised by Borr Drilling that the rig’s commitment to BW Energy has been extended to October 2024. As a result, Tower Resources is working with the offshore drilling firm on the timing in light of the situation with BW Energy.

The company underlines that it still intends to drill the NJOM-3 well in 2024. Originally, the well was scheduled to be drilled in June 2020, however, Tower Resources declared force majeure in March 2020 regarding the first exploration period on the Thali license due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The Thali production sharing contract (PSC) covers an area of 119.2 km2, with water depths ranging from 8 to 48 meters, in the Rio del Rey basin, in the eastern part of the Niger Delta. The first exploration period of the Thali PSC was recently extended to February 4, 2025. 

The drilling activities, undertaken by the Norve rig, enabled BW Energy to make a new oil discovery at a pilot appraisal well located on a field in the Dussafu license off the coast of Gabon. The next rig operation on the menu is the drilling of a production well at the recently proved northeast extension of the Hibiscus South field.

Once the jack-up wraps this work up, it is slated to drill a production well at the Hibiscus field into the newly proved northern flank and undertake well workovers.