With the aim of winning contracts in the shallow waters of the Campos Santos Basin, Petrodin Offshore promises to arrive in force in the coming months
The Brazilian Petrodin Offshore signed a memorandum of understanding with the Shangai Shipyard shipyard on May 22nd, which provides for the purchase or leasing of three anchored rigs. The company intends to compete for contracts in Brazil, West Africa and in the future in Argentina to make the operation viable. Each of the pieces of equipment – the Tiger 2, 3 and 4 rigs – is valued at US$ 200 million and should be ready in 2019. The rigs are equipped with a battery bank that supplies the demand for energy during peak operations. The system allows them to work with a smaller number of motor generators, providing savings of 30% in diesel oil consumption and a proportional reduction in pollutant emissions. The operating cost is 1/3 lower than a similar one with only diesel generators.
The units are aimed at shallow water projects, between 130 m and 400 m. Petrodin's executive director, Mats Rosengren, believes that this is a very promising market. The company is completing a study, in which it has already been able to identify that most of the rigs aimed at these depths were built in the 1970s/1980s, many of them already in the cold stack process.
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Newer probes aimed at this depth range are hybrid – being able to work anchored or with dynamic positioning. In general, they were built to work in the North Sea, where conditions are quite adverse, and can cost up to three times as much.
The units can work at depths of up to 1.500 m, but in that case they compete with dynamic positioning rigs. In the range between 130 m and 400 m, the company estimates that there are few units available in the world.
In Brazil, the shipowner identifies opportunities in the North and Northeast regions and in shallow water projects in the Santos and Campos Basin six months a year. The focus is on projects awarded to oil companies in the last ten years and which still have current drilling commitments. Other possibilities are works related to the abandonment of wells.
Abroad, the company is negotiating the charter of a unit with an unnamed client in Nigeria. In Argentina, the focus is on drilling projects in the coming years from areas that will be auctioned at the end of this year.
The ABS class rigs are equipped with five diesel motor generators, with 2.580 kWe each, a 7.500 psi high pressure drilling mud system, 15 PSI BOP and a variable load capacity of 12 t.
Rosengren says that although Brazil is focusing on expanding its exploratory area in deepwater projects, there is still plenty of room for exploration in shallow waters. He cites a number in which 64% of the world's oil is in areas in this depth range.
Another bet is on the growing concern of operators with the reduction of emissions. The executive cites Equinor, which has emphasized the theme in its projects. “The drilling area is still quite conservative, but given these new demands, it is inevitable that ship owners take innovations like this into consideration. We want to be in it,” he stated. Source: Brasil Energia