Offshore staff

BERGEN, Norway -- Petrobras signed a five-year drilling agreement with Larsen Oil and Gas Ltd. for the newbuild, deepwater (3,050 m) semisubmersible PetroRig 1 to work offshore Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico.

The contract begins upon delivery of the rig, owned by PetroMENA, from Jurong Shipyard in Singapore in 2Q09. The contract value is about $700 million.

Larsen has a similar rig,PetroRig2 owned by PetroMENA, under construction in Jurong for delivery at the end of 2009. It also has two 375-ft jackups owned by PetroJack under way for 2008 delivery.

8/10/06