With the four new drilling rigs, Petrobras will reach a fleet of 22 offshore units in operation in the Campos and Santos basins in September this year

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

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

According to Petrobras, this year the drillship NS-45 (Brava Star), in March, and the semi-submersible SS-75 (Ocean Courage), in May, have already been incorporated into the fleet. Both are already active in prospecting for new oil fields, in exploratory campaigns in Campos, Santos and Espírito Santo.

By September, the NS-32 drillship (Norbe VIII), for the Libra consortium, and the SS-91 (Developer) monocolumn, for Petrobras' exclusive projects in the Campos and Santos basins, are expected to start operating by September.

Petrobras did not go into detail about 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 Santos Basin pre-salt, after returning the Southeast part of the asset, due to low potential.

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

Learn how a drilling rig works

Equipped with the most modern technologies for offshore drilling, the new units are capable of operating in water depths of up to 3 meters, drilling wells up to 10.000 meters. To this end, they are equipped with a system to generate 50 MW of energy, enough to supply a city of 100 inhabitants – such as São Pedro da Aldeia, RJ.

The drilling rig is located in the center of the unit and, through an opening in the hull (moonpool), the column and the drilling equipment follow to the bottom of the sea, from where the well is drilled until it reaches the oil deposit. The main tower of these vessels reaches 90 meters above sea level, equivalent to a 32-story building, and has the capacity to lift 900 tons of cargo, equivalent to the weight of 5 Boeing 747s. The length of the drillship is 230 meters , which is twice the height of Petrobras' Headquarters Building (Edise).

Offshore drilling rigs were designed to drill underwater wells with the advantage of storing large amounts of materials (pipe, equipment, liquids and bulk) and operate without the support of offshore support or service units.