(OE) Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation and Malaysian oil company Petronas, through its subsidiary Petronas Suriname E&P, have agreed to rig swap for extended scope offshore Suriname. Based on an existing contract option, Noble and Petronas Suriname E&P have entered into an agreement for the 7th generation drillship Noble Voyager to drill one well in Block... Continue Reading →
Galp’s Well in Namibia’s Orange Basin Shows Promise
(OE) Portuguese oil and gas company Galp has reported preliminary signs of hydrocarbon presence in an exploration well being drilled offshore Namibia. Galp (operator, 80%) and its partners NAMCOR and Custos (10% each) initiated the drilling campaign in PEL 83, offshore Namibia, on November 17, 2023. The first well, Mopane-1X, indicates preliminary signs of hydrocarbon... Continue Reading →
2024 offshore drilling outlook: Westwood’s top three predictions for rig market – Long read
(OET) The offshore drilling market has been reaping the benefits of the ongoing upcycle, as rising demand and tightening supply brought higher day rates and fleet utilization in 2023. Will this trend continue in 2024? Westwood Global Energy, an energy market research and consultancy firm, has outlined its top three predictions for the year ahead,... Continue Reading →
Valaris Lands $519M Drillship Deal for Búzios Oil Field Development
Offshore drilling company Valaris has secured a multi-year contract for drillship VALARIS DS-4 with Petrobras offshore Brazil following a competitive bidding process. The a 1,064-day contract is anticipated to start late in the fourth quarter 2024, following completion of the rig’s current contract with Petrobras, which is expected to finish in September 2024. Based on... Continue Reading →
NG Energy increases Colombian oil, natural gas reserves with new drilling campaign
(WO) – NG Energy International Corp., along with its partners Olympo and Duemav in the Maria Conchita Block and with Clean Energy and Oleum in the SN9 Block, increased reserves at both Maria Conchita and Sinu-9 as part of an updated independent analysis by Sproule International Limited. The updated reserves and resources incorporate the recently... Continue Reading →
EIG to Acquire Ocyan for US$390 Million
(BW) EIG, a leading institutional investor in the global energy and infrastructure sectors, today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements with Novonor S.A. ("Novonor") and Brazilian Development Bank ("BNDES") to acquire Ocyan Participações S.A. ("Ocyan" or the "Company"), a Brazilian-based solutions provider to the offshore oil and gas industry, for a total amount... Continue Reading →
What to Watch in ’24: Global Exploration Outlook
Industry continues chasing big oil, key gas targets also on the radar (OE) Global exploration drilling is set for a boost in 2024 – we have line of sight on over 200 wells targeting over 30 bnboe of resource (unrisked). Several gas hotspots are on the industry agenda, whilst the strong appetite for oil exploration... Continue Reading →
Petrobras starts drilling in the Equatorial Margin
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras informs that it has started drilling the Pitu Oeste (RN) well today, which marks the resumption of the company's search for oil and gas in the Equatorial Margin, a region that stretches along the Brazilian coast from the state of Rio Grande do Norte to Amapá. The drilling of the... Continue Reading →
Petrobras Contracts Seadrill Drillship Pair
(OE) Offshore drilling contractor Seadrill on Friday announced that Petrobras has awarded 1,064-day fixed-term contracts to each of the West Auriga and the West Polaris in Brazil. The contracts are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2024 and represent total contract value of approximately $1.1 billion, inclusive of additional services and mobilization fees,... Continue Reading →
Valaris Takes Delivery of Two New Drillships
(OE) Offshore drilling company Valaris has taken delivery of newbuild drillships VALARIS DS-13 and DS-14 for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $337 million. VALARIS DS-13 and DS-14 will be mobilized from South Korea to Las Palmas in Spain, where the rigs will be stacked until they are contracted for work. The purchase of the... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 