Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation has secured a contract with Petrobras for the semi-submersible rig Noble Discoverer to provide drilling services offshore Colombia.
The contract has a firm duration of 400 days, with expected start in Q2 2024. According to Noble, the contract further contains an option to extend the duration by 390 days.
“We are thrilled to announce that we will expand our relationship with Petrobras with this significant contract win for the Noble Discoverer. This also means that we will build further on the Discoverer’s already announced presence in Colombia, which is one of the South American basins that is now coming back with exciting prospects,” said Blake Denton, SVP of Marketing & Contracts for Noble.
The Noble Discoverer is currently operating offshore Colombia for Ecopetro. The rig was built by KFELS in Singapore in 2009. It can operate at a water depth of 10000 ft (3048 meters) and has a maximum drilling depth rating of 40,000ft (12192 meters).
In 2022, Petrobras and Ecopetrol announced a natural gas discovery at the Uchuva-1 deepwater well in the Tayrona block, 32 kilometers off Colombia's coast. Petrobras operates the Tayrona block, which is expected to deliver Colombia's first gas production from deep waters fields in 2026.