Darwin - a Billion-Barrel Stacked Play,26 Feb 2026 06:43
Whilst we are waiting for news here is a recap of the investment case for Borders. The Darwin project isn't just about one discovery; it's a vertical stack of reservoirs that lets a partner multiply the resource without multiplying the discovery cost. In the deepwater South Falkland Basin, a standalone well in 2,000m water depth runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars, based on Borders' previous exploration costs, likely more today - but the stacked alignment is the reason why majors would be interested.
Darwin East is the anchor. The 2012 well physically sampled gas and condensate at four separate levels, showing solid 22% average porosity across 67.8m of net pay. Geologically, it's sound — the remaining hurdle is a full flow test to validate the 26,000 bpd phased commercial model based on two producers and one gas injector.
Right next to it is Darwin West, which carries an independently assessed 292-million-barrel prospective resource. While technically undrilled, its seismic signature — specifically the flat spots and amplitude conformance to structure — is consistent with the Darwin East discovery, making it arguably the most de-risked target in the basin.
The real interest to majors sits directly beneath these structures. Stokes lies approximately 700 metres below the base of the Darwin East well with an estimated 134 million barrels of recoverable condensate, while Sulivan is the larger prospect with an independently estimated 473 million barrels. Because these deeper targets are vertically aligned, a partner could appraise the Darwin East reservoir and deepen the well to test Stokes for an incremental cost that is far less than a single prospect elsewhere.
Borders has described this as a straightforward deepening exercise. By the time a partner finishes a two-well programme, they could potentially be looking at combined un-risked prospective resources across Darwin East, Darwin West, Stokes and Sulivan of around 1.1 billion barrels.
Will Hodson purchased 1.5 million shares at an average of 8.93p in late January 2026, bringing his total holding to 2.5 million shares. My bet is he's confident in what's coming. Good luck to all holders, long term and the lucky ones who bought last year!
Sign In
Follow the stocks
