Borr Drilling, BW Energy, Panoro shares slump after Gabon rig sinking

 Shares in Borr Drilling tumbled more than 9% in U.S. premarket trading Monday after one of its jack-up rigs, the Prospector 5, sank off the coast of Gabon, leaving one worker dead and four missing, according to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter.

The partners in the licence where the rig was due to drill also dropped, with BW Energy and Panoro Energy down 10.1% and 7.2%, respectively. 

The rig went down late Saturday off Mayumba, during preloading operations, the report said Sunday. There were 115 people on board. One of the five initially unaccounted for, an Indian national, has been found dead, the sources said. The four still missing are three Gabonese nationals and one other expatriate.

Borr Drilling’s official update made no mention of a death and said five of the 115 people on board remained unaccounted for.

"Of the 115 personnel on board, 110 are safe and accounted for. Search and rescue operations are ongoing for the five individuals who remain unaccounted for. The Company is in contact with the families of the missing personnel," it said in the press release. 

The company said the rig suffered a "punch through" during jacking operations ahead of a planned drilling campaign on the Dussafu Marin permit. That caused a loss of stability, and the rig then sank. A punch-through occurs when a rig’s legs break through the seabed’s surface layer.

BW Energy holds a 73.5% working interest in the Dussafu Marin licence.