Shell secures rigs for operations offshore Brazil, Namibia

Shell has secured a multi-year contract for the VALARIS DS-8 drillship for work on the Orca project in the Santos basin presalt offshore Brazil, as well as a separate contract for the Deepsea Mira for operations offshore Namibia.

Dec. 12, 2025

2 min read

Shell has let contracts for drillships in Brazil and Namibia.

The operator has let a multi-year contract to Valaris Ltd. for the VALARIS DS-8 drillship for work on the Orca project expected to begin in first-quarter 2027. Orca (previously known as Gato do Mato) is a major deepwater oil and gas development operated by Shell in Block S-M-518 of Santos basin presalt, offshore Brazil.

The contract is for an estimated duration of about 800 days at a value of about $300 million. The contract includes options with a total estimated duration of about 1 year.

Separately, Shell let a contract to Northern Ocean Ltd. for the Deepsea Mira with operations expected to begin in Namibia in April 2026.

The contract covers one firm well and includes one optional well, with an estimated duration of 45 days for the firm well and a projected firm backlog of about $16 million.

Recently, Deepsea Mira has been drilling offshore Namibia for TotalEnergies.

Shell Namibia has been exploring the PEL39 license 250 km from shore. Over the past 3 years, 9 wells have been drilled in the license: Graff-1X, La Rona-1X, Jonker-1X, Graff-1A, Lesedi-1X, Cullinan-1X, Jonker-1A, Jonker-2A and Enigma-1X. Shell is operator of the license (45%) with JV partners QatarEnergy (45%) and NAMCOR (10%).