PETROBRAS has committed to a three-year with option to extend to five years contract with Transocean for the hire of its ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig, Cajun Express, for operations offshore Brazil.
Transocean said Petrobras has the right within a year of contract execution to convert the initial three-year arrangement to five. Estimated contract values are $558.5million and $894.3million, respectively.
Intention is that Cajun Express starts work in Brazilian waters in Q1 2010, following completion of the rig’s current contract.
Meanwhile, Seadrill’s new-build ultra-deepwater semi-submersible, West Eminence, has started operations for Petrobras offshore Brazil.
West Eminence was delivered from Samsung in March this year, arrived off Brazil in June and has since prepared for start-up of operations. It is chartered to Petrobras for six years and is working in the Santos Basin sector.
For Seadrill, this marks the successful conclusion of the Norwegian company’s original eight deepwater rig new-builds that were contracted in 2005-06. It is the second deepwater new-build delivered to Seadrill that has begun a long-term contract with Petrobras.
Alf C. Thorkildsen, Seadrill’s CEO, said: “We are proud of having successfully completed the commencement of operations for the original eight deepwater new-builds over the last 12 months on five different continents.
“This concludes the first phase of developing Seadrill into a truly global offshore deepwater drilling contractor. Furthermore, these units represent a superb order backlog, with quality customers providing average contract length per unit just short of five-years and at attractive day rates.
“We have, in the last two months, also seen a clear improvement in the average utilisation of the seven new-builds that have already commenced operation. This confirms that Seadrill delivers a safe and efficient service to our clients.
“The second phase of the deepwater new-building project consists of a further three rigs that are scheduled to be delivered between April 2010 and December 2011, of which one has a six-year contract with Petrobras.”