Oslo-listed oil and gas E&P player BW Energy has spudded a well in a license it operates in Namibia’s Orange Basin using a drilling unit owned by Northern Ocean and managed by Odfjell Drilling.

According to a social media post by Northern Ocean, the Deepsea Mira has spudded the Kharas well for BW Energy in the Kudu license offshore Namibia, situated in petroleum production license 003 (PPL003). The company sees this as another step in unlocking Namibia’s offshore potential.

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.

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 assignments in benign and harsh environments at water depths of up to 3,000 meters.

The Oslo-listed player picked the rig for the assignment in late July. The deal formed part of a previously announced rig-sharing arrangement with Rhino Resources.

In August, the start of drilling activities using Deepsea Mira at the Volans-1X exploration well in production exploration license (PEL) 85 was announced by Rhino and one of its partners, NAMCOR.