Ah, Brazil. As shareholders of Vale
I first wrote about Petrobras'
The rig retention party has in fact already begun, with Noble
The huge backlog addition allows Noble to undertake some major refurbishment work on three of the rigs. Those improvements, in turn, will justify the much higher dayrates that Petrobras is set to pay:
Rig |
Current Dayrate ($000) |
Proposed Dayrate w/ Performance Bonus ($000) |
---|---|---|
Noble Paul Wolff |
163-165 |
493 |
Noble Roger Eason |
136-138 |
405 |
Noble Leo Segerius |
123-125 |
351 |
Noble Muravlenko |
119-121 |
340 |
Noble Therald Martin |
113-115 |
297 |
Do not adjust your monitor. Some of those dayrates are tripling. In addition to paying handsomely for the drilling work, Petrobras is also effectively chipping in for the rig upgrades by paying $90,000 per day during the drillships' shipyard time.
All of this may smack of desperation on Petrobras' part, but I think it may be just as much a reflection of the trust and respect that Noble has earned in its past work for the national giant.
Further Foolishness:
- Tupi is likely one reason analysts are entranced with Transocean.
- Petrobras isn't the only one diving into the deepwater.