Hanwha’s 7th-gen drillship kicks off maiden contract with Petrobras

September 18, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

A drillship owned by Hanwha Drilling, part of South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean, has commenced its assignment with Brazil’s state-owned energy giant Petrobras in the country’s Campos basin.

According to Hanwha Drilling’s social media post, Tidal Action‘s contract with Petrobras started on September 17, 2025. After arriving at Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro on July 7, 2025, the rig has now been deployed to the Roncador field to begin work, which is expected to take 30 months.

The rig will help the Brazilian giant boost natural gas production at the Roncador field situated northeast of Rio de Janeiro. The field is forecast to produce around 1.7 million cubic meters of gas per day.

Tidal Action will be chartered to Petrobras and managed by Brazil’s Constellation Oil Services. As disclosed when the contract with Petrobras was announced last October, this will be the Brazilian player’s first time operating a third-party-owned unit.

Hanwha Drilling’s CEO, Clay Coan, said: “I am very proud of this remarkable journey that we all have shared together. Especially, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Hanwha Drilling Project Management Team led by Guillaume Houbron, the Hanwha Ocean Project Management and Offshore Commissioning Teams, and the Constellation Project Management Team.

“I am also grateful for the manner in which the Constellation Rig Crew has represented the Tidal Action. Constellation has done an excellent job of assigning a team of highly competent and motivated individuals to the Tidal Action. I have full confidence that the rig is in good hands and that the performance of the rig will be one of the best in Brazil and beyond,” added Coan.

Known as West Libra until it was renamed in April, the Tidal Action is a seventh-generation drilling rig, capable of operating in water depths up to 3,600 meters, equipped to meet the toughest challenges of ultra-deepwater drilling.