Good morning, good afternoon, and welcome to Ventura Offshore's Q4 2025 Earnings Call. My name is Guilherme Coelho, I'm the CEO of Ventura Offshore, and I'd like to thank you all for joining us today. Here with me today are Marcelo Issa, our CFO, and Olavo Amorim, our financial advisor, and we'll provide you an overview of our performance between October and December of last year, a brief overview of the market, and at the end, open for questions. As usual, questions are to be made in writing. Use the Q&A icon you can see on the top right corner of your screen. Next slide, please. Yeah, that's our disclaimer that you are familiar with.
First off, we were very pleased to announce in Q4 our customer, Eni, declaring the second and third of four optional wells in Indonesia for the SSV Catarina, adding an aggregate additional backlog of around $30 million and keeping the rig busy well into Q2 of this year. Continued exercise of the option wells is the best testament we can showcase of the great work done by our teams onshore and offshore on the Catarina. Between October and December, the rig has yet again delivered superior performance with a 99% operational uptime. We currently have now just one remaining option well yet to be exercised, and we continue to be optimistic that this should also occur, taking the rig into Q3 of this year.
Another key highlights of the quarter, in Q4, Ventura Offshore has delivered an adjusted EBITDA of $21.9 million and a net income of $27.7 million. We maintain our industry leading cost structure, operating with an average OPEX of $105.8 thousand, excluding ancillary services for the Catarina, which are fully reimbursed by the customer with a markup margin. Again, quarter-on-quarter, showcasing our cost discipline and closing 2025 with an average OPEX for the year of $107,300 per day. We also closed the quarter with a strong free cash flow position of $43 million, we have extended our revolving credit facility by another six months. Our backlog by December 31st of last year was $539 million.
On uptime, we delivered an operational time of 94.4% and a financial time of 91.5%. Here, probably worthwhile mention that this variance or the variance in this quarter particularly is largely due to the type of operations conducted by the Catarina between September and December, most of which were remunerated at a discount to the full day rate. I think to illustrate this, the rig has delivered an operational time of 99%, as I just mentioned, but our financial uptime was 93.6%. Can we move to the next slide, please? Going back to our backlog, you can visualize in this slide how it spreads in years to come.
The $539 million mentioned is our firm backlog and is re-represented by the darker green bars, taking us to firm contractual commitments all the way to 2029. The existing options not yet exercised, represented by the lighter green bars, and which add up more than double the firm backlog number, could potentially take us all the way to 2033. As for our rigs, both the Carolina and the Victoria continue to operate for Petrobras on the Buzios field under their current contracts until Q2 2026. Carolina has been an out of service period for the contract preparation before starting the Sépia Atapu contract that should take her to 2029 or potentially 2033 if all options are exercised.
The Victoria remains being actively marketed and as you know, has participated in recent Petrobras market inquiries. Those results have not yet been disclosed in the context of the RENECO or the Petrobras renegotiations. We continue in discussions with Petrobras and I'll add a little bit more color to that when I talk about the market. The Catarina continues, as mentioned, operating on its well-based contract for ENI in Indonesia. The exercise of the 2 additional optional wells mentioned earlier enhances the visibility of the duration of this contract, which will now see well into Q2 of this year. We have 1 option well yet to be exercised that if and when done, will take the rig into the third quarter of this year.
Finally, our managed rig, the Atlantic Zonda, continues to operate very well considering it's on its first year of operations. As a reminder, this is a three-year firm contract taking operations to 2028, with additional three optional years, which would take her all the way to 2031. Finally, before I hand over to Marcelo, a quick comment on the Carolina interdiction event that occurred early last year. The news to share is that our discussions with Petrobras, which indicated this coming to a conclusion by end of 2025 or early 2026, have been halted due to the RENECO. As I mentioned, RENECO is the Petrobras renegotiations.
Basically, you know, Petrobras had, you know, various different negotiation fronts with all different drilling contractors. They had to prioritize all the different negotiations and the drilling contracts renegotiations took precedence, which makes perfect sense. Once the RENECO is over, we'll resume discussions about the Carolina interdiction, and we expect to see a conclusion now during 2026. With that, I'll hand over to Marcelo Issa, who will cover the financial highlights of our fourth quarter of 2025.
Thank you, Guilherme. Thanks to everyone for joining Ventura's earnings call. In Q4, Ventura generated total adjusted revenue of $57.2 million. This was composed of $53.2 from the operating activities of our three oil drilling rigs and $4 million in management fees related to Atlantic Zonda. The income statement reports $74 million in revenue from drilling services. It's important to highlight that this includes $20.9 million from the amortization of non-favorable contract liabilities, which is a non-cash item. Ventura remains committed to keeping OPEX low. Total OPEX for the quarter was $29.2 million, corresponding to a day OPEX of $105.8 thousand per day. The average day OPEX for the year is $107.3 thousand. The adjusted SG&A for the quarter is $6.1 billion.
The income statement reports $4.6 due to our non-recurring cost reduction of $1.5 recognized this quarter. This amount is related to social security taxes recovered in Brazil. Total G&A for the year is $19.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the period stands at $21.9 million and for the year, $77 million. Now looking at the balance sheet, our ending free cash position in Q4 is $43 million, and there is also $22.2 million in restricted cash held on behalf of the owners of the managed vessel. The bond loan was amortized by $10 million and the gross interest-bearing debit in Q4 stands at $144.3 million. Next slide, please.
Accounts receivable includes $6.9 related to Eni contract, a reduction of $6.8 million compared to $13.7 million last quarter. This reduction is the result of an acceleration of payment by the client. The other main components of accounts receivable are $28.8 related to our owner vessels and $16.2 related to the managed vessels, both with Petrobras. CapEx added in Q4 is $1.4 billion of which $400,000 relates to items for Carolina's new long-term contract with Petrobras. I will now hand it back to Guilherme for some market highlights. Thank you.
Thanks, Marcelo. Okay, I'll now quickly cover the market conditions. As you probably heard in other calls, from drilling contractors, other earnings calls, there is an overall optimism about market conditions. The longer expected oil and gas demand growth and declining reserves are now translating to tightening of supply. The reutilization, which has been holding steady at around 88% should now be rising further as we're seeing more and more indications of oil companies seeking rigs for programs to start now in 2026, mostly in 2027 and beyond. This additional demand is being observed quite broadly across the globe. I would like to focus on areas of interest for Ventura, Southeast Asia, India and Africa. I'll leave Brazil for a bit later. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia remains the hottest spot.
Indonesia, where the Catarina is currently operating and has been operating since 2019. Eni is developing Indonesia, its main hub in Asia there and looking for 2 drillships for long-term contracts. Harbour Energy in Repsol, Mubadala are also looking for rigs, and rig count in Indonesia is expected to rise. Other opportunities also exist in Malaysia, East Timor, India. In India particularly, we have seen ONGC now looking for up to 5 rigs, 3 drillships, 1 DP semi-submersible and 1 more semi-submersible to comply with the government's request to increase production. In Africa, historically one of the bright spots of the Golden Triangle activity is picking up and expectations for an increase of 20%-25% in rig demand, with expected increase coming from Namibia, Ivory Coast and other countries.
In East Africa, Mozambique particularly has been very active with Total, Eni and Exxon fuels to develop. All those opportunities bring me back to our Catarina, currently operating for Eni in Indonesia, as I've mentioned. We are very happy with the partnership with Eni and the further visibility we got into the duration of the current contract now that they've exercised two optional wells, were very welcomed by us. The exercise of the fourth and last option well should take her well into the third quarter of this year. The outlook for the Catarina beyond the current contract has just gotten brighter given market developments and opportunities, some of which I've just mentioned, in Southeast Asia and Africa, for instance.
It's probably fair to say that having a high-end workhorse rig available in late 2026, early 2027, and with the level of delivery of the Catarina that we've been seeing in her operations for Eni, might put us in a quite good position to benefit from some of these opportunities that we're seeing, and which we are actively pursuing. Moving back to Brazil, the RENECO, or renegotiations with Petrobras have not yet been formally finalized. It was Petrobras' aim to have them finalized by end of 2025, as I've mentioned in our previous call, but then I already cautioned that it could slip into 2026, which is what we have seen, right? We have to recognize it was a huge undertaking for Petrobras to close all the negotiations out. Talked to 10 different drilling contractors, discussed over 35 contracts.
Conclusions slipped into 2026, and now we expect this to be finalized in early Q2 this year, okay? Maybe in about a month's time, 30-45 days. Since our last call in November, the meetings and renegotiations continued to occur. As the process continued to evolve, so did our optimism about reaching a good outcome for both Ventura and Petrobras. Since you're obviously not privy to discussions being held and where we are, I think I should probably provide you some context so we can you can share this optimism. Just yesterday, Petrobras held their annual meeting with suppliers. This is a meeting that they always do, usually following the publication of the Petrobras five-year plan.
The five-year plan, as you know, is a more generic presentation talking about investment levels, et cetera, while the presentation to the suppliers is more granular and goes to significantly more details, okay? This is not aimed at drilling contractors only, but you have well head companies, you have subs engineer companies, et cetera. In this presentation, Petrobras outlined the expectation for an average of 28 rig years per year starting in 2027. Now, the concept of rig years is an important one, okay? Because one rig year means 12 operating rig months. In their five-year, Petrobras five-year plan, they did not indicate when they said, you know, 23-28 rigs, if those were rigs or rig years, right?
We, those of you who called us and had a discussion after the Petrobras five-year plan, I already mentioned that for me, those have to be rig years. It doesn't make sense to be rigs, and actually, Petrobras just confirmed that in this suppliers meeting of yesterday. Going back to the concept of rig years, this is a very basic and giving a very basic and simple example. A rig operating until June, for instance, and then stopping for an SPS or contract preparation project or something, and another rig starting in July, a new contract mean one rig year, six operating months for each, okay? Of course, an example of just rigs is a bit extreme, but it's just to illustrate the concept.
When, however, you consider a fleet of 30+ rigs operating for Petrobras, these dynamics of rigs stopping and others starting in the course of the year is a constant, okay? I mean, just a couple weeks ago, I was driving over to Macaé and could see four rigs in Guanabara Bay, all of them in contract preparation, two of which for Petrobras. They're not counting for the rig years, but they will when they start the contract, okay? What does 28 rig years mean? It certainly does not mean 28 rigs, okay? Maybe 31 in one year, 32 in another. If you keep that number in mind, and we look at the current Petrobras fleet, Petrobras currently has 35 units operating for them, two jackups, two light intervention vessels, and the remaining are floaters operating for them, right?
Out of those 35 rigs, we already know that the Mykonos is going to be beat after her current contract with Petrobras. We also already know that the DSA is going to Shell after her current contract with Petrobras. Also, Equinor is looking for a second rig in Brazil, et cetera, et cetera. All that to say that despite an apparent reduction in rig count for Petrobras, this reduction is actually much lower than some inferred it would be after the release of the Petrobras five-year plan. Also, the additional rig demand by other companies or International Oil Companies is absorbing this, those rig Petrobras no longer plans to contract. In other words, what we see is the rig market in Brazil as stable, okay?
It could potentially be that one or two rigs are left without a contract, but that's far from a concerning picture. I mean, historically, when things like this happen, the rigs from the Brazilian drilling contractors are not the ones left without a contract. Again, just look back historically and you see that. I think there's one important point to note as well, okay? During this presentation of yesterday to the suppliers, when asked whether those expected 28 rig years contemplated a potential development of the equatorial margin, the answer was a clear no. I think it's important to point that out because if all the expectations around the potential of the equatorial margin are confirmed, then all bets are off, the number of rig years would actually go up.
Hopefully with this context, I can give you some insights as to why we at Ventura remain optimistic about the market in Brazil and in our continued partnership with Petrobras. Next slide, please. That closes our presentation for Q4 2025. I couldn't close it without thanking wholeheartedly our teams onshore and offshore for delivering efficient and safe operations to our customers while maintaining our unbeatable industry-leading cost structure, which positions the company so well for opportunities for recontracting our rigs. I had the opportunity to have overnight visits on our rigs operating in Brazil, about two weeks ago, three days and nights offshore, as I do at least twice a year.
It's always a very powerful reminder of where our results are built, and it's offshore, by our fantastic teams. A special thank you to the Zonda crew, the Carolina crew, and the Victoria crew who welcomed us in this visit. I also wanted to express my appreciation to our shareholders, partners, and customers for their continued trust in Ventura Offshore. With that, I close our presentations, our presentation and will open for questions. Again, you have an icon on the top right corner of your screen, Q&A. You can write your questions there. Starting off with the first question. I mean, the first question is about when we can expect the rig count to conclude. I think I've already answered that. We're looking at probably early Q2.
Next question from Fredrik, from Clarksons.
As part of the RENECO, Petrobras seems to have been very focused on lowering costs CapEx in 2026 specifically, but with more flexibility in 2027 and beyond. Are you able to share anything around how this might cause any adjustment to the current and upcoming contracts on the Carolina and Victoria?
I think I already answered this, but again, while I cannot give you any more color on the RENECO and where we stand for obvious reasons, I think the presentation of yesterday and the expected number of rigs can provide you this overview, which is the same Petrobras shared with us. It's public information, which I think, you know, it substantiates a good optimism on our side for both Carolina and Victoria. Another question from Fredrik.
Can you talk a bit more about future opportunities for Catarina? ONGC has come to the market with a requirement that requires 5 rigs, including the B Semi. Is the tender something you'd consider participating in or do you think it's more likely you'd pursue more work with United and other operators in the region?
The question is all of the above, Frederick, basically. Of course, Indonesia with United makes a lot of sense. We have been operating there. We have been operating very well for them. As I mentioned, we're keeping a very good uptime. United is very happy. Now United is in the market for 2 drillships to take on the additional work. We remain, of course, talking to them.
We are available to extend our contract if they are willing to do so, but we're not limiting that. The market has moved a lot. I mentioned a few opportunities is an opportunity that we'll absolutely consider. We have operated in India before with the Louisiana. We know how to operate there. We have the history, we have the background. It is a very good opportunity, as are opportunities in other parts of Southeast Asia and Africa that we're looking into.
Okay, another question also from Frederick. What is the general sentiment among drilling contractors in Brazil currently? Do you think some of your international peers are getting tired of how RENECO and the Búzio s awards are stretched out, and that they are now more likely to move rigs out of Brazil?
I mean, it's interesting question. It's hard for me to comment on how our peers are feeling. I think everybody has the same idea that, you know, the market in Brazil is stable. I think this is a good thing. RENECO exercise is coming to an end, right? I think it's been long, it's been a long exercise, but it's coming to an end. Quite frankly, yeah, I don't know what else to say. I mean, I think it's a good stable market. It's coming to an end. Is our international drilling contractors going to be moving rigs out? It could be the case, right?
I mean, I think I've mentioned that I think despite the market being stable, there could be one or two rigs that are too many. Could, right?
I think if that is the case, chances are that international drilling contractors would be the ones affected by that. Again, we'll have to wait and see, Q2 to find out.
Okay, next question. Could you please expand on what is happening with Carolina? I'm trying to better understand the context behind the negotiations with Petrobras about this rig. Additionally, you mentioned Victoria is being actively marketed based on your discussions with Petrobras. How confident do you feel about securing awards with Petrobras for this rig?
Carolina already has a contract, the Sépia Tupã contract, right? Starting, once we finalize the current contract and go through the contract preparation.
This contract is maintained. Part of the negotiation is not canceling the contract, so we're not concerned there. The Victoria, as I mentioned, right, Victoria is part of the discussions we're having with Petrobras, obviously, and we are optimistic about getting an award. There's I think we can only confirm that once this is formalized, or the final negotiations are formalized, by Petrobras and all drilling contractors, and that's not gonna happen before early Q2, I don't think.
What is the expected timeline for the next update on the Victoria contract? Already mentioned and hopefully, early Q2, we should know. Okay, there's a very direct question. Any dividends soon? Our current bond structure does not allow for payment of dividends, okay? However, a refinancing is in the books.
We're planning on a refinancing now in 26. Exactly to fund the CapEx requirements for the Carolina and potentially for the Victoria as well, assuming we get a contract. Of course, part of the discussions around the refinancing will be to allow us to start looking into dividends, okay? There are plans. Upon the refinancing, that would be our goal, but that remains to be confirmed once we go through the refinancing exercise. How should we think about the CapEx for the rigs in Brazil ahead of new contracts? How much in the timing? Have you started to order long lead items? That's another question. We've had this discussion about the CapEx. I've mentioned this before. CapEx varies depending on the rigs, okay?
Your question is general, but I'm gonna put in the context of our rigs. I think that's the intent. Again, for the Carolina, we know the CapEx. We have a pretty good idea on the CapEx requirements, right? Because it's a signed contract. I think if you think about, you know, net of, you know, mold fees and all that, around the $50 million, $45-$50 is a good ballpark number to consider, okay. The Victoria, we have to understand the exact requirements, and for that we need to get the RENECO to finalize. If you think on the Victoria in the context of the Bureau Veritas standard, for instance, there was a requirement for it to install an MPD, okay.
You have to think, "Okay, this is an extra cost we need to have." How much and timing again depends, right? If you think between 60-90 days out of service, you can usually get your rig ready for the next contract depending on the contractual requirements. Have you started to order long-lead items? We have. Marcelo just read last quarter, we spent around $400K already for the DS Carolina, so we have started to order long-lead items for the DS Carolina, yes.
Next question is asking to share an outlook of your shore market for the regions where you operate. We have done that. We already mentioned we're very optimistic about the market. I talked a little bit.
I mean, I'm just repeating because he joined the call late. He mentioned in the question here, right?
We are very optimistic about additional activity we're seeing in Southeast Asia and Africa particularly. I didn't really focus on Gulf of Mexico and other markets that are not of no interest for us, but we're seeing increased activities Indonesia. We're seeing opportunities in India. We're seeing opportunities in Mozambique, Namibia, East Timor. We are optimistic, and again, we are positive about the future of the Catarina following the current contract. Okay, interesting question. Is it likely that the Deep Value Driller now will become a part of your managed fleet since Eldorado Drilling had bought her?
That's a good question. I think it's very early days, right. It was just announced.
Of course, I sent a congratulations note to Bernie Neil. We have a very good relationship with Eldorado. I think it's fair to say they're very happy with the performance of the Zonda. Of course, we would be open to expanding our partnership, but again, very early days, and it's something that we would still need to discuss with them. Can you give more details on why Catarina had reduced rate paid days included in her contract? Okay, that's a contractual clause. Depending on activities, you get 100% of day rate or 90% of day rate. If you're drilling ahead, you get 100% of day rate. If you are running BOP, you get 90. If you are doing completion work, you get 90. It really depends on the nature of the activity.
It has nothing to do with performance of the rig, okay? It's just on this particular contract, the day rate varies depending on the activity. Sometimes because of the activities you drill, you're getting paid a good chunk of the time, 90% or 95% instead of 100%. Okay. That is the main, the main reason for that. It's nothing to do with downtime or nothing of the sort. Should we expect the Buenos Aires standard award announcement shortly after the end of RENECO? A Buenos Aires standard award is part of the RENECO, right? A Buenos Aires' award, and I think we have to use this term very broadly. A Buenos Aires' award would be part of the RENECO announcement.
Okay. Another question here. Does either Victoria or Catarina will need an SPS once current contracts end? Yes, both will need...
I mean, first you need to stop because you have to do your SPS's anyway. It's mandatory. You need your five-year lease, right? The inspection for all your critical equipment needs to go through the five-year lease with OEMs, and you also have the contractor requirements, the new contract, contractual requirements that you need to try to do.
Okay, next contract. Next question is an update on CapEx requirements for Victoria after contract end. I think I already mentioned this. I think the Victoria, we can only give you this once the negotiations end, and we know exactly what type of CapEx requirements we would need in a follow-on contract, assuming we get one, okay. If you use Carolina numbers, I think they are good, a good idea of what the numbers look like.
The rigs, they have more or less same age. They have similar equipment, even though one is a semi, one is a drillship. If you wanna use a ballpark number, Carolina numbers are a good indication. Just bear in mind that, assuming Victoria follows the Búzios standard requirements, there is a specific requirement there, which is installation of an MPV. That's an add-on.
Can you share any details on when you expect Carolina to go in for contract prep? How long do you expect this to take, and when do you expect the new contract to start? And also, how are you thinking about long-lead items for the Victoria? On the Carolina, the contract, the contract prep will start immediately after end of the current contract, right?
We're now looking around June, July, it really depends on well in progress, duration of well in progress. It also depends on potential negotiations with Petrobras regarding the RENECO. You have 60, 70 out of service days. You have your usual acceptance by Petrobras, right? Every new contract is preceded by an acceptance period by Petrobras go onboard the rig and test every equipment, and then you start the contract. All right? Assuming those dates hold, and there's no longer period of operations and all that, we could be looking at mid to end of Q4, okay? That could change depending on, again, well in progress, RENECO discussions, et cetera. Regarding long lead items for the Victoria, we are, of course, keeping a close eye on that.
We haven't ordered anything as of yet because we haven't had to, and we do not plan on ordering anything before we have a contract signed, assuming we have a contract signed. However, I mean, again, at this point, we're still not concerned. We're still not concerned because we believe we have everything lined up. The fact that we have not ordered things does not mean that we are not in constant discussions with our suppliers, okay? To make sure that they will observe the required delivery before a new contract starts. Okay, another question here.
Could you talk about consolidation in the drilling market in general and Brazil? Well, we've seen the announcement of Transocean and Valaris. I think this is a great move by Transocean and by Valaris, and it's always...
I mean, consolidation is always very good news for the market, right?
I welcome that. I think if I look at that specific, that specific consolidation in the context of the Brazilian market, I think both rigs together or both companies together are gonna have about nine rigs in Brazil, so it's a good size. They, they do not become, you know, the number one, but it's a good size company. If you look at kind of distribution, most of the rigs operate, but they're operating for Petrobras, but they're gonna have rigs operating for IOCs as well. In Brazil, particularly, I mean, it's, as I have mentioned or before, right, when asked this question, consolidation is good for the market in general.
Consolidation is good for the Brazilian market as well. The dynamics are the same, right? We would welcome consolidation in Brazil. We would be happy to take part in consolidation efforts if it made sense, and we'll be happy if our competitors consolidate as well. Again, it's good for the market. Next one. Upon announcement of discovery of oil and gas in the Morpho well, how much incremental drilling demand can come in the short term as many different international operators start to explore the region? Here the question is about the equatorial margin. Okay. Morpho well is the one that's being the first well being drilled by Petrobras over there. Assuming there's a discovery of oil, that this discovery of oil is commercially viable, the number of rigs really varies, right?
I mean, take Guyana as an example. Guyana had 5, at one point they had 6 rigs, right? Can you use that as a proxy? I think you could. Okay? How, how soon will it be? It's not gonna be short term, okay? Because between drilling exploration wells, appraisal wells, and get to the point of development, you know, you have to look at least, you know, a good five years. That being said, Exxon went from exploration to development in Guyana in four years, if I'm not mistaken. I'm pretty sure that Petrobras will want to beat that. Okay? I think you can think three-four years. Potentially, you could have more.
It's true that both Exxon and Chevron also got blocks in these last ANP rounds, but they have two years at least ahead of them to get prepared and drill the first exploration wells. Yeah, between three-five years, assuming, you know, this is, I mean, all the expectations are confirmed, that's when we could see some additional rigs in the region.
Okay. Next question. Just to confirm, you mentioned that Petrobras will not be doing any further developments in the equatorial margin. If so, could you share a bit more color on that? No, I'm sorry. That's not what I said, and I apologize if I was misunderstood there. Petrobras is drilling exploration wells in the equatorial margin, okay? One well at the moment.
Morpho, they have plans to drill 15 more wells there in the next five years. I guess what I tried to say is that if they hit, you know, the jackpot and find oil like, you know, they are expecting to, when they do development, then the number of rigs would go up, okay? Sorry for any misunderstanding, but that's. There's no plans to stop, you know, drilling in the equatorial margin by Petrobras.
Next question. To what extent are contract awards revocable after being granted? What kind of penalties would Petrobras have to accept to break the Carolina's next contract? I mean. The Carolina is a 910 front day contract with a three or five unilateral extension, right? Petrobras does not have a unilateral cancellation right, okay?
It's not part of the contract for convenience. They do not have that. For them to cancel the contract, you would have to incur in a few of the causes for cancellation. If you're late more than 90 days, or once you're accepted and start operating, if you have more than 30% of downtime over a period of 180 days, there are a few causes that would cause Petrobras to cancel the contract. But once you have the Petrobras contract signed, there's no termination for convenience. Okay. Next one: Will the delays due to RENECO shift the startup dates of the contract? This is all on the table. Okay. Of course, if the RENECO delays, you know, and commencement on previously agreed dates becomes unfeasible, then part of the renegotiation, I'm sure for every drilling contractor, is to extend that date.
Next question: Have you started buying the long lead items for Victoria? I think I've already answered that, but just repeat, we have not because we do not have to, okay. What we are doing is we are in close contact with our vendors. Those vendors are the same vendors we have been working with for the past 38 years, okay. 28 years, sorry. We know them quite well. We have a good relationship with them. For some of them, we are the largest client in Brazil, like HMH, right? HMH is, we are the largest clients in Brazil, so we have very good relationship with them, and we are keeping a very close eye on that to not, you know, miss the ball here and have a problem with delivery. We have not. Okay. Next one is also about consolidation.
What is your take on local M&As in Brazil? Do you believe three local players becomes two this year?
I think I've already answered. I think if that happens, regardless of the combination, it's gonna be good to the market. I'll very much welcome a move in that direction. You know, maybe the transaction of Valaris is opening the door for more consolidation, and I think it remains to be seen. Again, as a drilling contractor, I welcome consolidation of my peers, as I would welcome being part of consolidation efforts if it made sense for the company. Okay, I think that's the last question.
No, there's 1 more. Okay.
Do you think you'll be able to stagger yard stay for the Carolina and Victoria by discussing with Petrobras, or will they likely be at the same time?
It really depends on the outcome of the discussions, okay. I think there is a high likelihood of them being around the same time. It's not set in stone yet because the renegotiations are not set in stone yet. We have done this prior to the previous contract. As you may recall, we had both Carolina and Victoria going through contract preparations for the current contract side by side at the Jurong shipyard here in Espirito Santo in Brazil.
It is a bit of a stretch in the organization, but we have delivered on time and on budget in the previous contract preparation project, and we are perfectly able of doing it again if that's where we end up.
Okay. One more question: With Chevron and Exxon also owning licenses in the Equatorial margin, do you think they could start exploration drilling shortly after a potential successful Morpho well? If so, do you think this would imply incremental demand, or do you think they would utilize some of their already contracted rigs?
Yes, but you know, they're not gonna be drilling tomorrow, right? They need to go through the hoops of, you know, shooting seismics, studying the results, and that takes time. I do not see them drilling there in 2027, for instance. Okay.
Could be, you know, for me, that's 28 and beyond. By then, it really depends on how their rig count is going to be, if they're gonna have rigs available to come to Brazil, if they have rigs in Brazil, right?
Currently they do not. Right. In principle, yes, I'll assume that this would imply a rig increase or rig demand increase in Brazil.
Okay, guys, that was the last question. Maybe I'll give another couple of minutes to see if anything else pops up.
Okay. I think we've answered all the questions. If you guys have any follow-ups that you didn't have time to write here, please feel free to send out an email directly to us.
I wanted to once again thank you all for your interest in Ventura Offshore and continued support, and we'll talk again in May. Thank you and have a great day.