Petrobras has said that 10 of the 12 units will belong to Brazilian companies. Due to the lack of capacity at Brazilian shipyards, all 12 units will be constructed abroad and delivered, to begin operating by no later than mid-2012.
This is the first phase of the previously announced plan to build 40 drilling units to be in operation by 2017. The remaining units are expected to be built in Brazil, demanding major investments in infrastructure to allow the national industry to have competitive price and quality capacities to produce equipment inline with the international standards that major oil and gas companies expect.
The investments to be made in this program are part of Petrobras’s exploratory and production development portfolio and will reportedly help in increasing oil and natural gas production.
