Oslo, 25 October 2026 – Panoro Energy ASA (“Panoro” or the “Company”) confirms with profound sadness that an incident occurred on the Dussafu Marin Permit (“Dussafu”) offshore Gabon at 20:37 local time on Saturday 24 October 2026, involving the jack-up drilling rig Prospector 5, owned and operated by Borr Drilling. During jacking operations in preparation for a planned drilling campaign, the rig apparently experienced a loss of stability and subsequently sank.
At the moment the immediate and overriding priority is the safety and wellbeing of all personnel affected by this incident.
At the time of the incident there were 115 people onboard the Prospector 5. A total of 110 have been safely accounted for while five tragically remain missing. The rig owner’s emergency response team has been activated and supported closely by BW Energy the operator of Dussafu, is undertaking extensive search and rescue operations in close coordination with relevant authorities and emergency responders.
The Company’s thoughts and prayers are with the five people who remain missing and with their families, friends and colleagues at this deeply distressing time. Panoro stands alongside the rig owner, the operator and the emergency responders in their efforts, and expresses its sincere gratitude and full solidarity with all those involved in the search and rescue operations.
Production at the MaBoMo facility is shut down in accordance with standard procedure during ongoing drilling preparations. There has been no reported damage to the facility or related equipment, nor any accidental discharge of harmful substances to the sea from the facility.
Panoro holds a 17.5 per cent non-operated participating interest in Dussafu.
Enquiries
Qazi Qadeer, Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +44 203 405 1060
Email: investors@panoroenergy.com
About Panoro Energy
Panoro Energy ASA is an independent exploration and production company based in London and listed on the main board of the Oslo Stock Exchange with the ticker PEN. Panoro holds production, exploration and development assets in Africa, namely interests in Block-G, Block EG-01 and Block EG-23 offshore Equatorial Guinea, the Dussafu Marin, Niosi Marin and Guduma Marin Licenses offshore southern Gabon, the TPS operated assets in Tunisia, Block CI-27 offshore Côte d’Ivoire and onshore Exploration Right 376 in South Africa.
Visit us at www.panoroenergy.com.
Follow us on LinkedIn