Pride International is a growing and global drilling contractor that has been operating in Brazil for the past 12 years. In fact, the company’s Brazilian subsidiary, Pride do Brasil, with its primary operations based in Macaé, operates in the center of the world’s fastest-growing oil exploration and development area. Pride also has an office in Rio de Janeiro where the emphasis is on marketing and business development.
“Brazil is a country in transition,” says Tony Seeliger, Pride’s country manager for Brazil. “There has always been a lot of activity here, but the country’s national strategy is to become a net exporter of oil and these new finds are driving the fastest-growing production in the world.”
At present, Houston-based Pride has seven offshore rigs operating in Brazil, all of them contracted to Petrobras.
“Currently, all seven of our rigs are contracted to Petrobras, but in the past we have worked for IOCs, independent operators, as well,” says David Bruce, regional vice president for Brazil and deepwater Gulf of Mexico. “We have one contract coming up that will commerce work in early fall for OGX, the largest Brazilian independent operator. By itself, this is another very exciting business opportunity. Depending on the status of our contracts, we’ll work for Petrobras, the main player, and as opportunities arise, we’ll work with the independents as we have equipment available for them.
The Pride Portland flowed the first oil from a subsalt formation in Brazil from a well that had been drilled by the Pride Rio de Janeiro in the Jubarte field. The Gulf of Mexico is the only other area of the world where subsalt production has been commercialized.
“We’re taking the best practices from that region and applying them here,” says Seeliger. “We have the experience, and we are limited only by water depth and rig capacity.” He adds, “Other than the depths, I’m not sure that those wells (Brazilian subsalt) are very different from wells drilled in the subsalt in the Gulf of Mexico. There are unique problems drilling in salt.”
Other than the rigs and related equipment, additional technology for drilling and completing subsalt wells comes from oilfield service providers like Halliburton, Schlumberger, and Weatherford. And, of course, Petrobras is very capable and experienced and employs a lot of its own technology.
Photo courtesy of Pride International
Asked what conditions are like offshore Brazil, Seelinger said that the weather is “rather benign.” Bruce added, “Except that the currents we face down here are in general much more severe than we face elsewhere. The effects of the currents can be a significant factor in offshore activities – moorings, for instance. But, as Tony points out, we don’t get the really severe and violent weather that you get in the North Sea or in the Gulf of Mexico during tropical storms or even cold fronts.”
Asked if Pride has plans to work with Petrobras on any additional subsalt drilling, Seeliger responds, “Petrobras doesn’t provide us a great deal of visibility into their prospect inventory. However, we do have one rig in Brazil right now that can drill those wells as they come into the lineup for them.”
Currently, three of the rigs, the Pride Rio de Janeiro, the Pride Portland, and the Pride Brazil, are rated to 5,700 feet. And, the Pride Carlos Walter will also be upgraded to 5,700 feet in 2010 to enable it to operate at the depths needed for the subsalt finds.
Seeliger points out that to fund development of the new subsalt finds, Petrobras is increasing production of its existing fields in the Campos and Espírito Santo basins. Currently, Pride rigs in Brazil are all contracted to various dates ranging from 2011 to 2017.
Pride has about 1,200 employees in Brazil, about 77% of them Brazilian nationals. To show how committed the company is to Brazil, Pride has made a multimillion-dollar investment to build and staff a new training center in Macaé. “We see that as a tremendous asset for us in terms of being able to recruit, retain, and train our growing workforce in Brazil,” says Bruce.
Seeliger agrees. “With all the new rigs arriving here, the competition for qualified and competent employees is very high. Our investment in this training center is something that will set us apart from our peers. We can provide training as to our standards and our policies, and do this on location in Macaé. Much of the training is on subsea, which is a large part of what we do here in Brazil. We carry out well control and other training activities as well. This is very important to attract good employees and for future growth.”
In a market where demand for qualified employees exceeds supply, Pride says the normal issues of recruiting, retention, and safety are exacerbated daily by the rapid growth and intense technical demands of Brazilian offshore exploration. The company is meeting this challenge by providing employees the opportunity to advance while building on their competencies and maintaining a database of training and development information on each employee. Employees know what training is required for advancement, and Pride’s Human Resources Department notifies them when training is due or available.
Asked how important Brazil is to Pride’s overall business strategy, Bruce responded, “It’s very important. Brazil is a very exciting operating theater for the industry in that for quite some time it has been among the leaders in deepwater technology, both in drilling for the reserves and figuring out how to complete them and produce. Petrobras, by itself, is world class in terms of being a pacesetter in that technology. Additionally, because of the success they have had, they have quite an exciting budget, thereby generating plenty of work prospects for us and for the industry at large.”
Pride’s revenues in Brazil in 2008 represented 22% of total company revenues, just slightly behind Angola (West Africa) with 23%. Mexico represented 20% of revenues, all other international was 21%, and the United States was 14%.
In an interview published in the May 2006 issue of OGFJ, Louis Raspino, president and CEO of Pride International, said his strategy was to transition the company into a pure offshore player with an emphasis on deepwater. How successful has he been at accomplishing this goal?
- In 2004, Pride’s offshore revenues represented 25% of total revenues;
- In 2008, Pride’s offshore revenues had increased to 57% of the total; and
- By 2012, the company projects that offshore revenues will be 94% of the total.
Raspino noted in a recent issue of Axis, Pride’s company magazine, “In the past five years, Brazil has evolved from an active offshore area to the world’s fastest-growing deepwater exploration area – and Pride is in the thick of it with seven rigs currently active offshore and an eighth on the way, later this year.”
