IVZ locks in well services contract for oil and gas well in November

Published 11-SEP-2026 11:15 A.M.

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Our oil & gas Investment Invictus Energy (ASX: IVZ) just awarded the well services contract for its Musuma-1 well to SLB.

SLB is one of the biggest oil and gas services companies in the world.

It is also a familiar face - SLB worked on the Mukuyu-2 well that delivered IVZ's gas-condensate discovery back in 2023.

With SLB locked in, the key drilling and well services contracts for Musuma-1 are now all secured.

And the well remains on track to spud in November.

Musuma-1 is the high-impact well targeting 1.2 Tcf of gas and 73 million barrels of condensate (gross mean unrisked).

It will be IVZ's first well since the Mukuyu discovery, and a much simpler one, with a ~1,500m target depth versus Mukuyu's ~3,360m.

This morning IVZ signed a “Well services” contract with $116BN capped SLB - the world’s largest oilfield services contractor:

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(source)

AND confirmed that wellpad construction had started for its next big well (ahead of the rig being moved and set up):

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(source)

Importantly… IVZ confirmed that “Musuma-1 remains on truck for spud in November”.

So IVZ will be drilling at some point inside the next ~45-60 days.

This will be the first well IVZ drills since making its Mukuyu discovery across two wells in 2022/2023.

(Which was actually labelled the second-largest discovery in Sub-Saharan Africa for 2023)

The first three companies in the image below are $383BN capped Shell, $291BN capped Total and then our little old IVZ.

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Source: IVZ Secures Gas Sample From Major Discovery (March 2024)

The difference with this year’s well is it will be a lot shallower (~1,500m target depth versus ~3,360m depth for the 2022-2023 wells).

AND it should be a lot less technically complex because IVZ now has a “working hydrocarbon system” and a lot of data from the Mukuyu discovery.

IVZ’s last two wells were the first ever wells put into this project.

So this time around, IVZ should have a far better grip on where/what it is drilling.

We also hope it means this round of drilling can be done for a lot cheaper than the last two wells IVZ drilled too.

IVZ’s MD Scott Macmillan said in a webinar recently the well should cost ~US$6 to US$10M. (source)

IVZ is currently capped at $105M and had $10.9M ($7.6M USD) cash in the bank at 30 June.

So IF additional cash is needed, it shouldn't be a $20-30M raise… but something a lot less dilutive - especially with IVZ capped at $100M+.

We think that once the market has clarity on how IVZ will pay for the well - that’s when the weight on the share price will be lifted…

Especially with oil prices doing what they are doing right now.

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(source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

You can see more on this from our previous article: IVZ spud date locked in for November