BW Energy has sanctioned drilling an appraisal well targeting the Kharas Prospect north-west on the Kudu formation in the second half of 2025.
Long-lead items have been secured, and the company is reviewing offers for rig capacity. There is a close dialogue with other operators in the Orange Basin on exploring the everyday use of available resources. Development planning and concept selection for the Kudu gas-to-power project continued with relevant stakeholders.
The Kudu gas discovery is in the northern Orange sub-basin, approximately 130 km off the southwest coast of Namibia.
It is situated in Petroleum Production License 003, which has an area of 4,567 square kilometres, and the field water depth is approximately 170 metres.
The field was discovered in 1974 with Kudu-1 and is delineated by seven subsequent wells.
BW Energy entered into a farm-in agreement for a 56% operated interest in early 2017, with NAMCOR holding a 44% joint venture interest.
BW Energy signed a farm-up agreement with Namcor, increasing the company’s interest to 95% in the license and closing the transaction in 2021.
BW Energy is progressing a revised development plan for the gas-to-power project to utilize a repurposed semi-submersible drilling rig as a Floating Production Unit. Repurposing will optimise the project timeline and significantly reduce capital investments compared to previous development concepts.
The revised development concept offers tangible financial, schedule and environmental benefits.
Reusing existing facilities also substantially reduces field development-related greenhouse gas emissions compared to newly built facilities.
The revised integrated development plan aims to supply competitive power to a growing African market with significant upside potential.
Development of the Kudu field is an attractive opportunity for BW Energy to engage in the electricity market and potentially fully or partially assume a position as an Independent Power Producer (IPP) through strategic partnering.
In the first quarter of 2022, the company signed an agreement to purchase the semi-submersible drilling rig West Leo from Aquadrill LLC, targeted for use in Kudu.
