Charter agreements signed for another nine newbuild rigs

By Gareth Chetwynd

 16 August 2012 22:59 GMT

Petrobras has signed charter agreements for another nine newbuild rigs, completing a list of 28 ultra deepwater units that will be built in Brazil by Sete Brasil, the entity that was created by Petrobras but is owned mainly by banks and institutional investors, writes Gareth Chetwynd.

The nine 15-year rig charters include four drillships to be operated and 15% owned by a unit of Brazil’s Odebrecht group. These will be built at the Estaleiro Enseada Paraguacu shipyard in Bahia. Two more drillships will be built at the same facility but will be operated and 15% owned by Etesco, another local drilling contractor.

The EEP shipyard, in which Odebrecht is partnered by OAS, UTC Engenharia and Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries, is in the early stage of construction, but the partners expect to cut the first steel in October 2013.…

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