Northern Ocean Ltd, which has been operating an oil rig offshore Namibia has said that a subsidiary of Shell Plc did not exercise the remaining option available under the Deepsea Bollsta contract for work in Namibia.
The Deepsea Bollsta is available from June 2024, and the company continues its ongoing dialogue with potential customers in the West African region and in harsh environment markets.
The Deepsea Bollsta successfully transited from Norway to Namibia in December 2022 and commenced drilling exploration and appraisal wells in the Orange Basin.
“The rig has maintained outstanding performance with the crews demonstrating the superior capabilities and efficiencies of a harsh environment semisubmersible operating in a challenging region through the winter season. The company has established itself in Namibia with two premium semisubmersible rigs in operations and is confident its rigs are the right solution for this market long-term. However, the fleet will continue to be marketed towards opportunities in all relevant offshore basins,” Northern Ocean said.
In May, Shell said it has extended its contract for the Deepsea Bollsta offshore Namibia.
Northern Ocean said at that time that, the firm term of the contract would continue through June 2024, with an option for a further six months.
Another Northern Ocean rig, Deepsea Mira, departed Bergen, Norway, in April and started mobilisation to the first well location off Namibia for a programme for TotalEnergies.
Shell said in November that it plans to drill two more wells in Namibia over the next 6 to 9 months.
Shell and France’s TotalEnergies have made several promising discoveries in recent years in the country which has no oil and gas production.
Shell is investing around one quarter of its deep water exploration budget in Namibia, the company said. The company’s overall exploration budget is around US$1 billion.
