Invictus confirms November spud for Musuma-1 well in Zimbabwe after rig contract revised

Invictus Energy (ASX:IVZ) says it will begin drilling the Musuma-1 exploration well at its Cabora Bassa Project in Zimbabwe in November 2026. The company announced on 7 August that it had signed a Deed of Variation with Exalo Drilling for Rig 202, which will drill the well.

What happens next

The company's stated sequence runs as follows:

• Award of the remaining well services contracts, which it targets "in coming weeks"
• Equipment preparation and staged mobilisation by service providers
• Rig maintenance and readiness work by Exalo
• A rig move from the Mukuyu site to Musuma-1, then rig-up and drilling

Wellpad construction was due to start the week after the announcement, following cultural ceremonies with traditional leaders and local communities. The work includes upgrading roads for the rig.

What has slipped or is unclear

Until August the company guided only to the second half of 2026. November is a narrower window within that, but it leaves little room for delay. The company has not given a date within November, and the remaining well services contracts had not been awarded when it made the announcement.

The Petroleum Production Sharing Agreement with Zimbabwe, signed on 28 May 2026, ended a delay that had run since January.

Why it matters

Invictus describes Musuma-1 as its first high-impact exploration well outside the Mukuyu gas-condensate discovery area, targeting a new play type. It estimates a gross mean unrisked prospective resource of 1.2 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas and 73 million barrels of condensate. Prospective resources are undiscovered, and the company notes the estimates carry both a risk of discovery and a risk of development.

For context, the company's most recent disclosed estimates include Msasa, where it holds 80%, with 1,200 bcf of gas (P50, stated September 2023), and the Mopane CBM Project, where it holds 74%, with 316 bcf of gas (P50, stated April 2026). Its interest in Musuma-1 was not stated in the announcement. If Musuma-1 succeeds, the company says it could materially expand the Cabora Bassa resource base. A dry hole would add nothing to those figures.

In April the company also completed an A$10 million placement, and in May it quoted options attached to it. Those raised no new money.