UK oil and gas company Tower Resources has hired Borr Drilling’s Norve jack-up rig for the drilling campaign offshore Cameroon in central Africa.
The Norve jack-up rig, part of Borr's fleet of high-specification drilling units, will be put to work on drilling the NJOM-3 well of Tower's Thali license in Cameroon in 2024.
The rig is currently reserved by existing contracts to deliver a series of wells, whose timing are subject to operational uncertainty.
Following the completion of those wells, the rig is expected to be available in Cameroon between April and August 2024. Subject to the rig being available during this time period, the company therefore anticipates that the NJOM-3 well will be spudded in Q2 or possibly Q3 of 2024.
The expected date range for the rig's availability will be narrowed as it draws nearer, according to Tower Resources.
The contract is also subject to conditions precedent concerning the final documentation of the company's Thali license extension, and prepayment of a portion of the expected rig hire.
Other terms of the contract are confidential, but Tower Resources confirmed that the contracted day rate for the Norve rig is in line with its latest cost projections.
Jeremy Asher, Tower Resources Chairman & CEO, said: "Signing the rig contract is a significant step forward in the development of our Cameroon assets and moves us toward spudding the NJOM-3 well in 2024. The Norve rig was chosen both for its high specification and its anticipated window of availability.
"Our next steps will be to finalize the documentation of the Thali license extension with the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (MINMIDT), and to move our farm-out discussions with multiple parties towards a conclusion, we hope during the first quarter of 2024. As we have explained in the past, our plan is to fund the well primarily with asset-level financing, and we still believe that is realistic.”
Tower Resources closes $765,000 fundraising
The UK-based company raises gross proceeds of approximately $765,000 (£600,000) through subscriptions for approximately 3,000,000,000 ordinary shares at a subscription price which represented a discount of approximately 13% to the closing bid price of the shares on December 15, 2023.
The proceeds will be used to fund working capital and work program commitments in all three of the company's licenses over the coming months, while the documentation of the its license extension in Cameroon and current farm-out discussions are concluded.
"While we finalize the farm-out discussions, we have chosen to raise a small amount of capital of which I am investing $102,000 (£80,000). We envisage that the majority of the remaining well cost will come from asset-level financing.
"I have chosen to participate in this fundraising myself, as I have in several of our previous recent fundraisings, reflecting my personal commitment to this project and my confidence in its success,” Asher said ahead of the fundraising.
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