Noble rig staying busy with Petrobras for 390 more days

U.S. offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation has secured a long-term extension with Brazil’s state-owned energy giant Petrobras for one of its semi-submersible rigs off the coast of Colombia, South America.

Petrobras’s Colombian subsidiary hired the Noble Discoverer semi-submersible rig in December 2023 to provide offshore drilling services in Colombia, thanks to a contract with a firm duration of 400 days and an option to extend the duration by 390 days. 

The company has now exercised the option to lengthen the rig’s assignment for an additional 390 days, prolonging the deal to approximately August 14, 2026. However, Petrobras can keep this rig occupied longer as it has an unpriced option at its disposal for another extension into Q3 2027.

The 2009-built Noble Discoverer DSS-21 column-stabilized, dynamically positioned, sixth-generation semi-submersible drilling rig can operate in water depths of up to 10,000 feet (3.05 kilometers). The rig’s maximum drilling depth is 40,000 feet (12.19 kilometers). This semi-sub can accommodate 180 people.

Petrobras used the rig last year to reach the main target of the Sirius-2 well in Colombian waters to check the extent of the gas discovery made in 2022 with the drilling of the Sirius-1 well, which was completed by another rig.

The firm’s Colombian branch and its partner, Ecopetrol, carried out a drill stem test (DST) at the well after results assessment confirmed volumes of over 6 trillion cubic feet in place (VGIP).

The latest extension comes after Noble landed more drilling jobs for four floaters in Ghana, Suriname, the Americas, the U.S. Gulf, and Australia. One of the rig owner’s jack-ups recently enabled Petrogas E&P Netherlands to achieve a new natural gas extraction milestone.