PV Drilling 11 completes its pioneering mission

The PV DRILLING VI rig achieves 10 years of Zero LTI

PV Drilling’s Board of Management visits the PV DRILLING VIII rig at PTSC downstream port

A pioneering imprint

The year 2007 marked a significant milestone in PV Drilling's development journey when it simultaneously acquired the jack-up rig PV DRILLING I and the land rig PV DRILLING 11. If the PV DRILLING I is considered a "golden goose", then the PV DRILLING 11 is PV Drilling's pioneering symbol in its journey to venture out to the ocean.

Recalling the early days, the PV DRILLING 11 underwent an extremely arduous journey to reach North Africa. After seven months of construction in China, with a weight of over 2,000 tons, from Guanghan, Sichuan Province, China, the PV DRILLING 11 was disassembled and packed into more than 120 cargo units, transported to Shanghai port. From Shanghai, the rig was shipped to Skikda port, Algeria, taking another month, and then transported overland for another month to the desert in Touggourt province.

PV DRILLING 11 Land Rig in the Sahara Desert (Archive Photo)

Nearly 10 years ago, when GBRS (a joint venture between Sonatrach, PVEP, and PTTEP) welcomed its first commercial oil flow in Algeria, the joy, happiness, and pride of PV Drilling, especially those directly involved in this project, were indescribable. After years of hard work, overcoming numerous difficulties and challenges, the PV DRILLING 11 rig pioneered its way to the ocean and affirmed the PV Drilling brand in Algeria. At that time, although Algerian domestic drilling companies had more than 100 drilling rigs, they still chose PV DRILLING 11 to provide services, further affirming that PV Drilling had built great trust and reputation with oil and gas contractors in Africa.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Algeria, Mr. Đỗ Trọng Cương (9th from the left), visits and extends Lunar New Year greetings to PV Drilling employees at the Sahara drilling site (Archive Photo)

The journey of the drilling in Algeria, was not only a difficult, complex, and long-term project but also considered a vocational school for training many Vietnamese drilling personnel. In the first drilling campaign of PV DRILLING 11 during 2007 - 2008, PV Drilling had to hire many foreign experts to take charge of the most important positions on the rig, however, by the second drilling campaign, all of the most important positions on the rig were handled by Vietnamese personnel. This seemingly simple change is a long story about the determination of PV Drilling's Board of Management as they trusted and assigned tasks to the Vietnamese engineering workforce. At the same time, the Vietnamese engineers' determination and willingness to continuously learn proved their real capacity to take on the most important positions on the rig. This also acted as a precedent for PV Drilling's Board of Management to continue to promote training and use Vietnamese personnel to hold key positions on offshore rigs. Moreover, the PV DRILLING 11 also helped improve the skills of local workers when they participated in working on the rig.

Completing its “pioneering mission”

In early April 2024, the PV DRILLING 11 rig completed its three-year drilling program under contract with GBRS in Algeria. After completing the project, the rig was taken to its base in Hassi Messaoud for maintenance and to await its next assignment.

Previously, from 2023, PV Drilling actively sought suitable drilling projects for the PV DRILLING 11 rig, not only in Algeria but also in other regions. However, assessing the feasibility of projects encountered many challenges due to high competitive factors, rig prices maintaining at a low rate, continuously increasing personnel, transportation, and supporting service costs, significantly impacting estimated profit margins. The ability to relocate the PV DRILLING 11 rig to other regions is also not easy due to its specialized design for desert environments and its 2000HP capacity. The rig would require a significant budget for conversion, upgrades, and mobilization to make it suitable for new markets. Without guaranteed jobs at a reasonable price, investing in upgrades would hardly yield effective rates of return.

Looking back, since being put into operation in 2007, the PV DRILLING 11 has contributed many achievements, enhancing PV Drilling's reputation in the international market. The rig has completed its depreciation period and achieved significant economic efficiency. Therefore, the liquidation of the PV DRILLING 11 rig at this time is considered a reasonable strategy to optimize benefits for PV Drilling. Currently, PV Drilling has received interest from several partners regarding the purchase of the PV DRILLING 11 rig and has completed the rig's handover to the partner.

PVD Algeria "packs up" the PV DRILLING 11 rig for handover to the partner

A flexible development strategy, ready to seize opportunities

In addition to the PV DRILLING 11, PV Drilling is currently effectively operating four jack-up rigs and a tender assist drilling rig (TAD) in Southeast Asia, focusing on the markets in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. Simultaneously, PV Drilling is actively expanding its investment in new offshore rigs and developing well technical services in this region. Most recently, PV Drilling has implemented the investment to purchase a three-legged multi-purpose jack-up rig with cantilever and is expected to put it into operation from the third quarter of 2025 to meet the growing demand for jack-up rigs in the domestic and regional markets. According to the investment plan from now until 2026, PV Drilling will continue to consider purchasing another jack-up rig, depending on the demand of the drilling market as well as the ability to find a suitable rig on the market. In addition to strengthening its rig fleet, PV Drilling is also implementing investment in the Hydraulic Workover Unit (HWU) equipment to serve the increasing demand for well repair and abandonment, as well as well technical equipment, expanding workshops, etc., to increase the business’ competitiveness and meet the rebounding strong growth of the drilling rig market.

The efficiency in the operation of the drilling rigs, along with continuous investment expansion, is a testament to PV Drilling's sustainable development and flexible, effective strategy over a long period. The temporary suspension of service provision in the Algerian market is also considered a suitable strategic step by PV Drilling, while creating better preparation in terms of resources, personnel, and operational capacity to be ready to return to this market in the nearest future when opportunities arise. When suitable opportunities present themselves, PV Drilling is ready to return to the North African market to continue the unfinished success story of rig 11, to once again affirm PV Drilling's reputation and brand in the international market.

PV Drilling