Rigs report: global offshore drilling activity flat, but Brazil deepwater offers opportunities

For the week, energy analysts Westwood Global Energy Group reported oil companies in Latin America had contracted 24 floaters for deepwater development and exploration activity.

One of the most active markets in Latin America is Brazil, with 61 offshore drilling rigs in the country in various states of activity, layup, repair or construction as of 1 June. Westwood Global Energy reported 17 offshore drilling rigs were actively drilling, five were hot stacked, two were undergoing shipyard modifications, nine were under construction, two were waiting on location, four were warm stacked and one workover unit.

Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has three of its ultra-deepwater drillships under contract to Brazil state oil company Petrobras. Deepwater Corcovado, at a day rate of US$184,000 for 20 months, is under contract until July 2021 and Deepwater Mykonos, at a day rate of US$203,000 for 19 months, until May 2021. Both ships are capable of operating in 3,000 m of water and drilling depths of 10,600 m. Petrobras 10000, capable of operating in 3,650 m of water and drilling to depths of 11,400 m, has secured two back-to-back contract awards with Petrobras, the first from March 2020 to February 2021 at US$313,000 per day and the second from March 2021 to September 2021 at US$322,000 per day.

Three-year contract for Solstad

Solstad Offshore announced that two of its anchor handling tug supply vessels (AHTS), Far Sagaris and Far Statesman, have been awarded a contract with Petrobras for three years firm to support exploration and production activities on the Brazilian continental shelf.

Both vessels will sail under Brazilian flag and will be equipped with work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for operations down to 3,000 m of water. Solstad said the contract, which would start in September 2020, would have a value excluding ROVs in excess of Nkr800M (US$83.7M). The contract follows one for construction support vessel Far Saga announced in May.

In other Latin America offshore oil and gas activity, Noble Corp reported in its fleet activity report that its ultra-deep water drillships Noble Tom Madden, Noble Don Taylor and Noble Bob Douglas in Guyana were added to a commercial enabling agreement (CEA) framework with ExxonMobil to provide drilling services in the Guyana-Suriname Basin. Noble Bob Douglas is located in the Liza Phase I field development project, the first significant oil find offshore Guyana.

Other data for regions tracked by Westwood Global Energy Group in its offshore drilling rig intelligence tool RigLogix were relatively flat, with contracted floaters slipping in the North Sea from 24 to 23 and remaining unchanged at six in West Africa. Globally, active floaters fell from 114 to 113.

Meanwhile, contracted jack-ups in southeast Asia and the Middle East remained unchanged from the week prior, with 36 and 120 active units, respectively. Jackup activity in the North Sea fell from 20 to 19 units.