San Francisco: Sete Brasil, the offshore oil and gas management and investment company closely associated with Petrobras, revealed on Thursday it is in the preliminary stages of talks with Chinese shipbuilder Cosco (China Ocean Shipping Company) Shipyard Group about the building of two rigs.
The semi-submersible rigs would be deployed in Petrobras’ development of offshore projects in Brazil, according to a Sete Brasil spokesman. The cost of the rigs was not available.
Founded in 2010 by eight Brazilian pension funds, banks and the troubled state-run oil giant Petrobras, Sete Brasil was contracted to build 29 offshore drilling platforms, including six semisubmersibles and 22 drillships to be leased to Petrobras, which needs them for developing the pre-salt crude oil in the deep offshore Brazil.
However the Petrobras corruption scandal, which also tainted Sete Brasil, has made that number unrealistic and the parties have scaled back to between 13 and 17 rigs as a feasible alternative.
The rigs are expected to be delivered between 2015 and 2020.
