Petrobras Expands Fleet of Drilling Rigs to Intensify Exploratory and Production Development Activities Offshore in the Campos, Espírito Santo, and Santos Basins

With The Four New Drilling Rigs, Petrobras Will Reach 22 Offshore Units in Operation in Campos and Santos Basins by September This Year

Petrobras announced yesterday (05/17) in a material fact through a press release that it plans to receive a total of four drilling rigs this year to intensify exploratory and production development activities in the Campos, Espírito Santo, and Santos basins.

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With the four new vessels, Petrobras will have received 15 rigs since 2019 and will reach a fleet of 22 offshore units in operation by September this year.

According to Petrobras, this year has already seen the incorporation of the drillship NS-45 (Brava Star) in March and the semisubmersible SS-75 (Ocean Courage) in May. Both are already operating in the prospecting of new oil fields during exploratory campaigns in Campos, Santos, and Espírito Santo.

By September, the drillship NS-32 (Norbe VIII) is scheduled to enter into operation for the Libra consortium, and the monocolumn SS-91 (Developer) for Petrobras’s exclusive projects in the Campos and Santos basins.

Petrobras Did Not Provide Details on the Locations Where the Rigs Would Operate

Petrobras did not provide further details on the locations where the drilling rigs would operate.

Last week, the Executive Director of Exploration and Production, Fernando Borges, pointed out in a conference with analysts and investors that the Libra consortium is still exploring the Central area of the Libra block in the pre-salt Santos Basin, after returning the Southeast part of the asset due to low potential.

The Libra block, the first offered in a production sharing auction in 2013, has so far led to the Mero field, the third largest producer in the pre-salt region.

Learn How a Drilling Rig Works

Equipped with the latest offshore drilling technologies, the new units have the capacity to operate in water depths of up to 3,000 meters, drilling wells up to 10,000 meters deep. To enable this, they are equipped with a system for generating 50 MW of power, sufficient to supply a city of 100,000 inhabitants – such as São Pedro da Aldeia, RJ.

The drilling tower is located at the center of the unit, and through an opening in the hull (moonpool), the column and drilling equipment extend down to the seabed, from where the well is drilled to reach the oil reservoir. The main tower of these vessels rises 90 meters above sea level, equivalent to a 32-story building, and has the capacity to lift 900 tons of load, equivalent to the weight of 5 Boeing 747s. The length of the drillship is 230 meters, which is twice the height of Petrobras’s Headquarters Building (Edise).

Offshore drilling rigs are designed to drill underwater wells with the advantage of storing large quantities of materials (pipes, equipment, liquids, and bulk) and operate without the support of service or support vessels.