Borr Drilling Rig Prospector 5 Sinks Off Gabon, Five People Missing

Five people are missing after the jack-up drilling rig Prospector 5 sank offshore Gabon on Saturday night while it was preparing for a drilling campaign for BW Energy. Borr Drilling, which owns and operates the rig, said 110 of the 115 people on board have been safely accounted for, and search and rescue work is under way for the five who have not.

The two companies said the incident happened at 8:37 p.m. local time on Saturday, October 24, 2026, on the Dussafu Marine licence. The rig was jacking up, lifting its hull on its legs above the sea, in preparation for the planned drilling programme. Preliminary information points to a punch through event during preload activities. In a punch through, a rig leg drops suddenly through a weak patch of seabed instead of settling on firm ground. Borr said the event cost the rig its stability, and the rig sank.

The search for the five missing

Borr said its onshore emergency response team has been activated and is working with local authorities and BW Energy to respond to the incident, support those affected and search for the missing personnel. The company described the search and rescue operation as extensive. Neither company reported injuries or fatalities in its first statements on Sunday.

"We are deeply concerned for those who remain unaccounted for and everyone affected by this incident," Borr Drilling chief executive Bruno Morand said. "Our immediate priority is supporting the ongoing search and rescue efforts and the welfare of all personnel involved." Borr said its immediate and overriding priority is the safety and wellbeing of all personnel affected, and it gave family members a contact number, +44 (0)1224 087026, for information or assistance.

Production shut at the Dussafu licence

BW Energy said production at its MaBoMo facility is shut down, in line with standard procedure during ongoing drilling preparations. The company reported no damage to the facility or related equipment, and no accidental discharge of harmful substances to the sea from the facility. BW Energy announced the incident in a regulatory filing on the morning of Sunday, October 25, 2026, and said it is supporting the search and rescue operations in close coordination with the drilling contractor, the relevant authorities and emergency responders.

The rig and the field

Prospector 5 is a jack-up rig built in 2014, of the Friede and Goldman JU-2000E class, able to work in water up to 400 feet deep and to drill down to 35,000 feet. It was contracted to support BW Energy's drilling operations on the Dussafu licence. BW Energy is an independent oil and gas company with production, development and exploration assets in Gabon, Brazil and Namibia. In its own company description it puts total net proved and probable reserves above 240 million barrels of oil equivalent, with output planned to grow from around 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2025 to over 100,000 a day by 2028. The company has not said what the sinking means for the timing of the Dussafu drilling campaign.