Brazil’s offshore drilling firm reaches rig acquisition settlement

Brazil’s deepwater offshore drilling contractor Ventura Offshore has struck a deal with Umas 1 as the seller of a semi-submersible rig the firm decided to acquire last year to make a lump sum payment as a final settlement.

Ventura Offshore Midco disclosed at the end of June 2024 the acquisition of the SSV Catarina, the 2012-built semi-submersible drilling rig that had previously been managed and operated by Universal Energy Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

As part of the rig acquisition, it was agreed that Umas 1, as the seller of the unit, should receive 17.5% of the free cashflow generated by the Catarina rig, splitting profits for five years, starting from the contract with Eni Indonesia that began in August 2024. Ventura Offshore started trading in June 2024 on the Euronext Growth stock exchange market in Oslo, Norway.

The offshore drilling contractor has now entered into a settlement with Umas, agreeing through its subsidiaries to pay a lump sum amount of $8 million as full and final settlement of any earnings under the profit split since the Eni contract commencement, the 17.5% profit split, and all amounts outstanding concerning the final accounts and working capital of the rig in connection with the acquisition, which was completed in July 2024.

The Catarina rig is currently on an assignment with Eni in Indonesia, where the firm wells are estimated to keep the unit utilized into the fourth quarter of 2025. Aside from the current firm wells, the Italian oil major has options for five more fixed-price wells, four in Indonesia and one in Vietnam.

The SSV Catarina rig is suitable for operations in specified environments such as offshore Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico (being renamed to the Gulf of America), West Africa, Asia, and Southeast Asia in ultra-deepwater depths of up to 10,000 feet (3,050 meters) with drilling depths of up to 35,000 feet (10,668 meters).

The unit is designed to carry out exploration and appraisal drilling in combination with test production, drilling of production wells, drilling and completion of subsea wells with the installation of templates, pull-in operations, and well intervention services, such as workover and maintenance of satellite and subsea wells.