Seadrill’s 2014-built drillship staying one more year in Brazil

January 30, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Seadrill, an offshore drilling contractor, has secured more time with Equinor Brasil Energia, a subsidiary of Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor, for a drillship working off the coast of Brazil.

Equinor has exercised a one-year priced option for Seadrill’s 2014-built West Saturn ultra-deepwater drillship. This adds $114 million to contract backlog and extends the original assignment, which begun in 2022, through October 2027.

Simon Johnson, Seadrill’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “The continuation of the contract into a sixth consecutive year reinforces our long-term collaboration with Equinor in Brazil, where we have a shared commitment to delivering safe and reliable offshore operations in a strategically important basin.”

With a maximum drilling depth of 37,500 feet, the West Saturn drillship, which is of Samsung 12,000 design, is a seventh-generation ultra-deepwater dual activity drillship with operational history in West Africa and Brazil.

The latest contract extension comes shortly after Seadrill won work for a drillship and a jack-up rig in Malaysian and Norwegian waters, alongside a contract extension for another drillship deployed in Brazilian waters.