BNamericas reported that Brazilian federal energy company Petrobras will have three new drill ships in the offshore pre salt area of the Santos basin by the first half of 2010.

Mr Almir Barbassa CFO of Petrobras said that the new drill ships will help to speed up the collection of data for future exploration in the area. He added that "We already have four drill ships working around the BM-S-9, BM-S-10 and BM-S-11 blocks. The new ones will join the existing ones to work in different wells in the same areas."

Mr Barbassa also said that the tender process for a new FPSO for the pre salt Guara oil field is already in course.

(Sourced from www.bnamericas.com)