The sinking of Borr Drilling Limited’s Prospector 5 rig off Gabon has left five people unaccounted for and disrupted operations at BW Energy’s MaBoMo oil facility.
Borr said Monday that 110 of the 115 people aboard were safe and being brought ashore for care. Sea and air crews continued searching for the other five after the rig sank Oct. 24 while preparing for a BW Energy drilling campaign.
Reuters reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the incident, that one person had died and four were missing. Borr did not confirm a death in its later update and continued to list five people as unaccounted for.
BW Energy said it halted MaBoMo production as a routine step while drilling preparations were underway. It said neither the facility nor related equipment sustained damage and no harmful substances had been accidentally discharged into the sea from the facility.
Borr described a “punch through” during preloading as a preliminary finding. The company said it was working with authorities and partners to investigate why the rig lost stability and sank.
Before the incident, BW Energy planned four MaBoMo Phase 2 production wells and expected first oil from the campaign in the first quarter of 2027. It has given no revised drilling timetable or quantified production impact.
Gabon’s government said Sunday that it had observed no oil pollution. It said environmental monitoring would continue because the rig carried 280 cubic meters of diesel.
