OGX, a Brazilian Oil and Gas company, reports that its sixth semi-submersible drilling rig, Pride Venezuela, has arrived in Rio de Janeiro and should begin operating within the next few days at the Waikiki prospect in the Campos Basin.
This unit will bring added capacity to OGX’s exploratory campaign, the largest private campaign of its kind in Brazil, and will be the seventh rig operating for the company in the Campos, Santos and Parnaiba Basins.
OGX has also chartered a Jack-Up unit, the Ocean Scepter, which is already in Brazil but has not yet begun operating in the Para-Maranhao Basin.
Pride Venezuela arrived in Rio de Janeiro on the 6th of September, straight from a shipyard in Dubai, where its equipment has been modernized. The rig stayed at the Maua shipyard in Guanabara Bay until the 24th of September, where it was modified for the work with OGX. The rig is now already at its first destination, the Waikiki prospect, located in Block BM-C-39, in the Campos Basin.
This is the sixth offshore rig operating for OGX in the Campos and Santos Basins, where the company has already made a number of discoveries and has completed the drilling of 16 wells as an operator.
The decision to hire this new equipment reflects the promising outlook that has resulted from previously drilled wells. The rig will enable the advancement of the delineation program, and at the same time will allow OGX to continue identifying new exploratory prospects in the Campos and Santos Basins.
Pride Venezuela has the capacity to drill wells up to 7,600 meters deep in water with a maximum depth of 457 meters. The rig was chartered by OGX from Pride International for a year with the option to extend this period.
