Premier Oil hires Valaris drillship for well off Brazil

Oil and gas company Premier Oil has hired a Valaris-owned drillship for operations on Block 717 located offshore Brazil. 

In an update on Tuesday, Premier said it had contracted the Valaris DS-9 drillship to drill the Berimbau/Maraca stacked prospects on Premier’s operated Block 717 in the Ceara Basin in Brazil.

The well is scheduled to spud in the third quarter and is targeting unrisked resource of 300 mmbbls. Premier has not revealed any further details about the rig’s contract.

Bassoe estimates that the dayrate for the contract with Premier will be $190,000.

Premier was awarded its interest in Block CE-M-717 in Brazil’s 11th Bidding Round in 2013. The company has a 50% operated interest in the block.

According to Valaris’ latest fleet status report, published in October 2019, the DS-9 drillship is currently under contract with French Total in Brazil.

The contract started in June 2019 and it is scheduled to end in May 2020. The drillship has been contracted for four wells plus two one-well options. Bassoe’s estimate for the contract with Total in Brazil is $160,000.

As for the rig, the Valaris DS-9 drillship was built in 2015 by Samsung Heavy Industries and its maximum operating water depth is 12,000 ft while its maximum drilling depth is 40,000 ft.

The rig can also accommodate 200 people.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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