US supermajor ExxonMobil has launched a tender to charter a high-specification drilling rig to carry out exploration work off Brazil, targeting pre-salt prospects on acreage acquired in recent bid rounds in the country.

Well-informed sources told Upstream that ExxonMobil is looking for a modern rig, most likely a seventh-generation drillship equipped with a managed pressure drilling system, with the programme set to start in the third quarter of 2020.

It is understood that ExxonMobil invited a wide range of drilling contractors including Transocean, Seadrill, Pacific Drilling, EnscoRowan, Maersk Drilling, Noble Corporation, Diamond Offshore, as well as local players Constellation Oil Services, Ocyan and Petroserv, to submit commercial proposals later this month.

ExxonMobil laid out exploration plans late last year for seven blocks acquired in Brazilian deep waters in recent rounds, setting up an ambitious course of action that would potentially call for the drilling of up to 22 wells in the Campos and Santos basins.

However, the company only has a firm commitment to spud two wells in Brazil and those are the probes that will initially be the target of the forthcoming campaign.

These include one well in Block C-M-789 in the Campos basin on the fringe of the pre-salt polygon and another in the Tita pre-salt area in the Santos basin.

The other 20 wells are spread between blocks C-M-37, C-M-67, C-M-753, C-M-789, S-M-536, S-M-647 and Tita and are not mandatory, but sources believe chances are high that ExxonMobil could test some of these prospects.

“ExxonMobil is offering a well-based contract with multiple options that can be exercised after the drilling of the commitment wells,” a source told Upstream.

The planned campaigns in C-M-789 and Tita would mark the return of ExxonMobil to Brazil’s drilling arena nearly a decade after the company last spud a well in the country.

The company, headed in Brazil by Carla Lacerda, operated Block BM-S-22 in the Santos basin pre-salt province where it drilled three wells — Azulao, Guarani and Sabia — that resulted in non-commercial discoveries.

The licence was eventually relinquished in April 2012 and ExxonMobil exited Brazil’s upstream sector, only to return the following year, when it took on two blocks in the northern equatorial margin — CE-M-603 in the Ceara basin and POT-M-475 in the Potiguar basin.

Since September 2017, ExxonMobil has increased its portfolio in Brazil to 26 blocks, including securing a 64% stake and operatorship of Tita in the country’s fifth pre-salt round.

ExxonMobil's new acreage in Brazil includes six blocks in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin, where Petrobras has made a series of light oil discoveries in recent years.

Even though the company did not take on a specific commitment to drill any offshore wells in Sergipe-Alagoas, ExxonMobil is expected to file a separate exploration plan for the area, potentially outlining drilling targets for early next decade.

Over the next few years, ExxonMobil is also expected to participate in the drilling of numerous pre-salt prospects in blocks operated by Petrobras, including in six new permits in the Campos basin and in the high-profile Uirapuru area.

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ExxonMobil fires up rig race for Brazil drill spree