Petrobras is poised to award rig contracts to Norway’s Seadrill and domestic player Constellation Oil Services for another two ultra-deepwater units destined to operate in Brazilian waters, based on prices gathered in a recent “pool rig” tender.

The Brazilian oil major has been more active in the rig market in recent months, as some of its ultra-deepwater units come to the end of their current contractual terms.

One tender concluded earlier this year was aimed at keeping a pool of rigs available for drilling around the Brazilian coast, and resulted in aggressive bidding and two-year contracts for six rigs going to three different Brazilian companies.

Constellation Oil Services signed contracts for the semi-submersible units Alpha Star, Gold Star and Lone Star, Ocyan won a term for the Norbe VI semisubmersible and Petroserv won charters for the semisub Victoria and the drillship Carolina.

Dayrates on these contracts were said to range from $130,00 to $160,000, excluding mobilisation costs. At the bottom end of this range were the Constellation units Alpha Star and Gold Star.

With demand growing for the highest-capacity rigs, Petrobras went back to the participants in the same pool tender and initiated direct negotiations for two more rigs for work on blocks where the state-controlled company is acting with international partners.

With this process now close to conclusion, Upstream understands that Petrobras is poised to sign one- to two-year charters for the Seadrill-owned West Tellus drillship as well as the Constellation-owned Amarelina Star drillship.

Upstream understands that a Petrobras-led consortium will pay a rate close to $210,000 for the West Tellus, which has dual activity drilling capacity.

The unit will be used to drill a wildcat on Uirapuru, a giant pre-salt prospect said to be on-trend with the Carcara field, now operated by Norwegian operator Equinor. The spud date is likely to be set for early 2020.

Another Petrobras-led consortium will use the Amarelina Star to carry out development drilling on Block B-M-S-11, where fields such as Lula are in production.

Upstream understands that the rates agreed with both companies reflected the need for some additional investments.

In Constellation’s case this included installation of managed pressure drilling equipment.

Weekly

Petrobras lines up ultra-deepwater rig deals off Brazil