Page 12: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Jul/Aug 2024)

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MARKETS RIGS © harvepino/AdobeStock

NAMIBIA:

The Newest Most Promising

Deepwater Rig Demand Hotspot

By Teresa Wilkie, Director of RigLogix, Westwood ver the past few years the Namibian Orange

Growing Namibian Floating Rig Demand

Basin has emerged as an exciting new oil prov-

Pre-2021, demand for rigs in Namibian waters was lim- ince and subsequently a provider of signifcant ited to say the least. Only eight semisubmersible (semi) or new demand and future demand potential for drillship contracts were awarded for drilling off the West

O deepwater drilling rigs.

African country between 2006 and 2018, resulting in the

According to Westwood’s Wildcat, “the Upper and drilling of nine high-impact exploration wells and zero

Lower Cretaceous plays opened in the Namibian Orange commercial discoveries. Chariot Energy, HRT, Repsol,

Basin by the Venus and Graff wells in 2022, have deliv-

Sintezneftgaz and Tullow Oil all took a stab at exploring ered nearly 5bnbbl after the frst nine wells, making it the the Namibe, Luderitz and Orange Basins off the country, second largest oil province to have emerged globally in with no material success during this period. the last decade”.

These rig deals were awarded to an array of different

Furthermore, the seven exploration wells that fol- deepwater rig providers including Pride International, Di- lowed up the Graff and Venus play opening discover- amond Offshore, Transocean, Rowan and Ocean Rig to ies have resulted in four follow-on discoveries with an name a few and during that 12-year period rig days off estimated recoverable oil resource of 2.8bnbbl. This Namibia totalled approximately 820 days or 2.2 years of includes Galp Energia’s Mopane discoveries made in rig demand. 2024 at an estimated 2.4bnbbl. If verified, this would

However, the market for deepwater rigs in this new make Mopane the largest ever discovery in sub-Saharan province since 2022 has been increasing off the back of

Africa and the third largest oil discovery globally in the giant new discoveries. Despite no rigs currently working last decade. offshore, Westwood expects to see a few begin new pro- 12 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM