Shell Namibia Upstream B.V has entered into a N$1.7-billion contract extension with Northern Ocean for continued work in the country using the Deepsea Bollsta.
The subsidiary of multinational oil and gas company Shell Plc’s deal, which runs from December 2023 into June 2024, has an additional option for six months at a cost of N$1.6 billion.
Norwegian offshore drilling company Odfjell Drilling which manages the offshore drilling rig agreed to the deal on behalf of Northern Ocean.
The Bollsta rig is managed by Odfjell Drilling following an agreement with Northern Ocean in December 2021.
“Northern Ocean Ltd. is pleased to announce an extension of the contract with a subsidiary of Shell Plc for continued work in Namibia using the Deepsea Bollsta,” said the Oslo Stock Exchange listed company.
Shell had entered into an initial 12-month contract valued at N$2.1 billion, with an option to extend the deal for a further six months.
Northern Ocean’s second rig, the Deepsea Mira, at the beginning of April 2023, left Bergen, Norway, and began mobilization to the first well location in Namibia for its multi-country contract with TotalEnergies.
“The rig has experienced some delays loading equipment and performing required maintenance during the transit, and we are now targeting commencement of the contract at the end of the second quarter,” Northern Ocean said.
This comes as Shell and its partners, the National Petroleum Company of Namibia and Qatar Energy, announced a significant discovery of light oil in the Jonker-1X deep-water exploration well, located in the offshore region approximately 270 kilometres off the Namibian coast.
The Jonker-1X well was drilled in the Orange Basin, Block 2913A & 2914B (PEL 0039) using the Odfjell Deepsea Bollsta semi-submersible rig to a depth of 6,168 meters in a water depth of 2,210 meters.
The drilling started in December 2022 and was safely completed in early March 2023.
This discovery marks the third successful well drilled by Shell within a year, highlighting the great potential in the offshore region. The data collected during the exploration is currently being evaluated to determine the recoverable resources and size potential of the discovery.
The Joint Venture group comprises Shell Namibia B.V (45%), QatarEnergy (45%) and NAMCOR (10%).
The discovery is expected to boost Namibia’s oil and gas sector and contribute to the country’s economic growth.
Increased oil exploration in Namibia comes after more N$30 billion has been invested by oil companies since independence towards exploration, according to the Namibia Petroleum Operators Association.
