Ocyan Bags Contract with Petrobras for Norbe VIII Rig

January 15, 2021 | Oil & Gas | Energy Facts Staff Writer | 2min

Norbe VIII, one of Ocyan’s five deepwater drilling rigs, was rehired by Petrobras, as operator and representative of the Libra Consortium (Petrobras, Shell, Total, CNODC and CNOOC), for a period of 425 days. The new charter and services contract comes into effect as of the beginning of the operation, scheduled for July 2021, the same month in which the current Norbe VIII contract with Petrobras, which lasted ten years, ends. The entire Ocyan fleet, including five own rigs and the two FPSOs from Altera&Ocyan joint-venture, continue with active contracts.

“This new achievement demonstrates Ocyan’s operational excellence to the market, with technical delivery capacity and financial strength”, celebrates Heitor Gioppo, Superintendent director of Ocyan’s Drilling Unit.

Norbe VIII is a drilling rig with dynamic positioning capable of operating in water depths up to 3,048 meters and drilling wells up to 12,195 meters. The rig was built in 2011 and is operating at a high level. In 2020, it was highlighted in Sondópolis (Petrobras’ performance ranking) and reached the mark of 3 years without accidents on board June 2020.

The rig won the bid for the Consortium of Libra/Petrobras to contract equipment with the capacity to operate in 3,000 meters of water in Brazilian waters delimited by geographic coordinates according to Concession Contracts, Transfer of Rights or Production Sharing Contracts.

Between the end of the current contract and the beginning of the new one, the vessel must go through a period of maintenance and adaptation to meet the requirements of this new contract. The crew consists of about 180 members.

“Ocyan is a Brazilian company with a high capacity, which has followed a path of innovation combined with operational efficiency. These characteristics have placed us among the major players in the oil and gas market in Brazil, which is highly competitive and internationalized”, evaluates Roberto Bischoff, president of Ocyan.

Innovation:
Norbe VIII is the first ultra-deep water drilling rig in the country to have the Rig View 360º, a system based on the concept of “Google Street View”, capable of providing virtual and remote navigation throughout the internal area of the vessel. The tool enables virtual ‘shipment’ at the unit, which allows Ocyan’s onshore team to perform activities or carry out checks that can be done remotely, without these members having to face the entire logistical shipment process, including required mandatory training and risks associated with exposure to the offshore industrial environment.

“The mechanism is an innovation. When we access the system, we can identify several possibilities increasing the vessel’s monitoring and, consequently, the efficiency of the operation”, explains Rodrigo Chamusca Machado, responsible for Technology and Innovation at Ocyan’s Drilling Business Unit.