High demand leads to extremely tight Brazil offshore rig market

Brazil’s offshore rig market is extremely tight due to high equipment demand, two local sources told BNamericas. 

The situation results from multiple offshore campaigns underway and planned by federal oil company Petrobras and private oil and gas companies. 

According to data from the navy, 29 offshore rigs are operating in the country, 20 of which chartered by Petrobras. 

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

Source: Brazilian navy

One unit Petrobras hired is Ocyan's ODN II, which will drill a well in the Foz do Amazonas basin. 

Maersk/Noble’s Noble Developer rig is carrying out works for Karoon in the Patola field, after which it will be moved to the Australian company’s Neon field to drill the first of potentially two control wells.

Then, the same rig is expected to drill a well for Shell in exploration block C-M-659, in Campos basin. 

The Anglo-Dutch major has two rigs contracted: Constellation’s Brava Star and Seadrill’s West Tellus, both operating in Santos basin. 

Valaris’ Renaissance rig is working for TotalEnergies in Santos and will possibly drill Petronas’ first well in the country later this year. 

Constellation's Alpha Star rig (pictured) is currently chartered by Brazil’s Enauta, which is the operator of the Atlanta field, in the Santos basin. 

Another local private firm, PRIO (formerly PetroRio), is using its King Maker well intervention rig and Ocyan's Norbe VI semisubmersible unit in the Campos basin, where Trident Energy is also carrying out intervention works with Siem Offshore’s Siem Helix 1.

And ExxonMobil has Seadrill’s West Saturn rig under contract. The equipment is currently docked at the Jurong Shipyard, in Espírito Santo state. 

Additional rigs will be necessary to meet the demand of companies like BW Energy, which is expected to drill a well in the Golfinho field in March, and 3R Petroleum, which has several campaigns planned for this year.