Spotlight: Brazil's offshore rig market

Brazil’s offshore rig fleet is expected to grow, as federal oil firm Petrobras and private players move forward with exploration and production projects. 

Petrobras has launched two rig tenders: one for chartering an anchored unit and another to hire an intervention jack-up to operate in water depths between 12m and 50m. 

Petrobras currently has 24 hired rigs, including well intervention vessel Siem Helix 2. 

But its fleet has just gained another unit.

On Wednesday, Transocean announced a three-year award from an oil company for the newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Aquila for work offshore Brazil. Although Transocean didn’t mention the company, a source close to the subject confirmed to BNamericas that Petrobras is the company in question. 

The contract is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2024. 

Requesting anonymity, the source also told BNamericas that 3R Petroleum and Trident Energy will soon contract shallow-water rigs, while BW Energy will require one for operations in 2024. 

BP recently closed a one-well contract with Valaris for drillship Valaris DS-15, which will operate in the Pau Brasil exploration block. 

The deal is expected to commence in the first or second quarter 2024 in direct continuation of the rig’s current program, with TotalEnergies, and has a duration of 80 days. 

A priced option with the French major for Valaris DS-15 is now expected to be exercised in direct continuation of the BP contract in the second or third quarter 2024. 

According to data from the Brazilian navy and oil and gas watchdog ANP, there are 34 offshore rigs in Brazil. They are detailed in the following table: 

Rig	Type	Owner	Charterer
Alpha Star	Semissubmersible	Constellation	Enauta
Amaralina Star	Drillship	Constellation	Petrobras
Atlantic Star	Semissubmersible	Constellation	Petrobras
Brava Star	Drillship	Constellation	Petrobras
Carolina	Drillship	Ventura	Petrobras
Deepwater Corcovado	Drillship	Transocean	Petrobras
Deepwater Mikonos	Drillship	Transocean	Petrobras
Dhirubai Deepwater KG2	Drillship	Transocean	Petrobras
Etesco Takatsugu	Drillship	Etesco	Petrobras
Gold Star	Semissubmersible	Constellation	Petrobras
Hunter Queen	Semissubmersible	Ocyan	PRIO
King Maker	Semissubmersible	PRIO	PRIO
Laguna Star	Drillship	Constellation	Petrobras
Lone Star	Semissubmersible	Constellation	Petrobras
Noble Developer	Semissubmersible	Noble/ Maersk	Shell
Norbe IX	Drillship	Ocyan	Petrobras
Norbe VI	Semissubmersible	Ocyan	Petrobras
Norbe VIII	Drillship	Ocyan	Petrobras
Ocean Courage	Semissubmersible	Brasdrill	Petrobras
ODN I	Drillship	Ocyan	Petrobras
ODN II	Drillship	Ocyan	Petrobras
Petrobras 10000	Drillship	Transocean	Petrobras
Siem Helix 1	Drillship	Helix	Trident Energy
Siem Helix 2	Drillship	Siem Offshore	Petrobras
SSV Victoria	Semissubmersible	Ventura	Petrobras
Valaris DS-4	Drillship	Valaris	Petrobras
Valaris DS-17	Drillship	Valaris	Equinor
Valaris Renaissance	Drillship	Valaris	TotalEnergies
West Carina	Drillship	Seadrill	Petrobras
West Jupiter	Drillship	Seadrill	Petrobras
West Saturn	Drillship	Seadrill	Equinor
West Tellus	Drillship	Seadrill	Petrobras