Good morning, good afternoon, everyone, welcome to Ventura Offshore's Q1 2026 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 are Marcelo Issa, our CFO, Mardonildo Filho, our Chief Strategy Officer, and Olav Hamre , our Financial Advisor, and we'll provide you an overview of our performance between January and March of this year, a brief overview of the market, and at the end, open for questions. The questions are to be made in writing. Use the Q&A icon you can see on the top of your screen. Next slide. This is our disclaimer, which you guys are familiar with. Okay.
Very glad to report our robust operational performance in the first quarter of the year, with an uptime of 96.8%, in line with the continuous improvement we have been observing since last year. Another key highlight for the quarter, in Q1, Ventura Offshore has delivered an adjusted EBITDA of $21.5 million and a net income of $25.8 million. Again, this quarter, we maintain our industry-leading cost structure, operating with an average OpEx of $106,700 per day, excluding ancillary services for the Catarina, which are fully reimbursed by the customer with a markup margin. Again, demonstrating our cost discipline throughout the quarters and the years. I've been having this call with you now for two years, and proud to see that we've been able to demonstrate our cost control since our call number one. We also closed the quarter with a strong free cash position of $37.2 million.
That's prior to the bond tap that we'll talk about in a second. On uptime, as already indicated, we delivered strong operational uptime of 96.8% and a financial uptime of 91.1% for the entire fleet and 92% for our owned rigs. Variance mostly explained by a planned BOP maintenance on the Atlantic Zonda. On subsequent events to Q1, though certainly worthwhile highlighting the great results achieved by our marketing teams in the Renecom negotiations with Petrobras, which added over $500 million in backlog to our company. As you know, we have extended the Victoria, the semi-submersible Victoria, for 1,455 days or four years, with a day rate close to 60% higher than that of the current contract. The Victoria will be deployed to the Búzios field, where she currently is operating. This extension period will start in January 2027, following a docking period to perform SPS.
SPS is the Special Periodic Survey, a five-year maintenance plans, and installation of an MPD system. This results in approximately $466 million in additional backlog to the company. The Atlantic Zonda had a 365-day contract extension, taking operation until at least Q2 of 2029. This was a classic blend-and-extend mechanism, where you exchange this additional one year of term for a slightly reduced day rate that will apply until Q2 of 2028. From Q2 2028 onwards, your original contract day rate adjusted as per contract will be restored for the remainder of the one-year duration of the contract. The one-year extension just negotiated, coupled with the day rate adjustments, results in an additional backlog of approximately $145 million. A mutually agreed extension option of up to two years remains available to be exercised.
On the Carolina, the extension negotiated was for 135 days on the current contract, adding $29 million to our backlog and pushing the mobilization window for her subsequent contract to January of 2027. Also important to mention that other than moving the mobilization window, no other changes were negotiated to the Sépia- Atapu contract for the Carolina, which is the follow-on contract, which remains with the day rate agreed in December of 2024, which is, by the way, about 85% higher than that of the current contract. All in all, for Ventura Offshore, around $509 million in additional backlog to the company as a result of Renecom and our firm backlog at the end of Q1, adding the Renecom results amounts up to $1 billion.
Following this announcement, the company also had a successful and fast raising of $75 million through a tap on their existing bond loan, which included certain amended provisions, among which waiving the amortization installments of July of 2026, October of 2026, and January of 2027, such that all such amounts instead will become payable on the maturity date in April of 2027. This now provides the company with sufficient liquidity in 2026 to face the capital expenditures expected for the year, while maintaining the financial flexibility towards year-end, set up the right cost-efficient capital structure. By then, we'll have a better visibility on both the capital expenditures actual needs for Carolina and Victoria projects and future work opportunities for the SSV Victoria. Besides keeping the flexibility for any potential growth opportunities, allowing us to have a debt profile that matches the backlog and expected earnings profile going forward.
We talked about the re and the announcements made in April about this year, about the extensions on the SSV Victoria, DS Carolina, and Atlantic Zonda. The chart on the bottom part of the slide, you'll see the green representing the firm contractual period. The dotted red lines indicate the extensions granted through Renecom, and the dark and light yellows represent the optional periods. The dark yellows are the unilateral options by Petrobras, and the lighter ones, the ones we mutually agreed. Basically, we have all of Ventura Offshore rigs operating in Brazil, contracted until 2029 or beyond. Victoria, for instance, has a firm contract until beginning of 2031, and Carolina and Zonda still have options yet to be exercised, which could take contractual term to 2031 for the Zonda and potentially 2033 for the Carolina.
Very good position to be in from a revenue visibility standpoint. Looking at it from a backlog position, which is the chart on the top part of the slide, you can also visualize how it is spread in years to come. Our current firm backlog following the Renecon announcement, is of $1 billion that are, as I already mentioned, and represented by the darker green bars, which takes the firm contractual commitments all the way to 2031. While the existing options not yet exercised, represented by the lighter green bars, I should say, add another potential $617 million to the backlog number, which could potentially take us all the way to 2033 with the Carolina.
If I spend one minute on each rig, we now have both the Carolina and the Victoria continuing to operate for Petrobras on the Búzios field under their current contract commitments until around July for Victoria and September for the Carolina, given this 135-day extension I mentioned, not assuming any extensions due to well in progress. Carolina has an out of service period for SPS, regular maintenance, and contract preparations before starting the Sépia- Atapu contract around January of 2027. The Victoria will also undergo an out of service period for SPS, regular maintenance, and MPD installation before starting her contract extension, which will then be dedicated to the Búzios field, as well should remain in the same location. Commencement, for the Victoria, is also expected to around January of 2027. The Catarina continues, as mentioned, operating on its well-based contract for Eni in Indonesia.
She currently is drilling the third of four optional wells. While we have not yet executed the amendment for the fourth optional well, we have received written confirmation from Eni of their intention to exercise this well. It is a matter of time to paper it up. Of course, an announcement can only be made once an amendment is indeed signed. We are confident about this fourth optional well being exercised by Eni, which should take the rig well into the third quarter of this year. Finally, we remain very happy with our managed rig, Atlantic Zonda. With our partnership with Eldorado, I think it's fair to say that Eldorado feels the same. The rig's been performing very well.
She currently is the second-best rig in Petrobras Rig Performance Index ranking, or IDS, which is quite remarkable considering she's just turned one now, just first year of operations. With this one-year option exercise, via Renecom renegotiations, she now has a firm term until 2029. An additional two years optional, which could take her all the way to 2031. Before I hand over to Marcelo, a quick comment on the Carolina interdiction. After the finalization of Renecom, we have now resumed negotiations with Petrobras, and it's been a constructive discussion. Assuming we manage to settle on mutually agreed beneficial terms, I believe we could see an outcome sealed in 2026. With that, I'll hand over to Marcelo Issa, who will cover the financial highlights of our first quarter of 2026.
Thank you, Guilherme, and thanks to everyone for joining Ventura's earnings call. In Q1, company generated total adjusted revenue of $56.5 million. This was composed of $53.1 million from the operating activities of our three owned drilling rigs and $3.4 million in management fees related to Atlantic Zonda. The income statement reports $73.5 million in revenue from drilling services. However, it's important to highlight that this includes $20.4 million from the amortization of non-favorable contract liabilities, which is a non-cash item. Company remains committed to keeping OpEx low. Total OpEx for the quarter was $28.8 million, corresponding to a daily OpEx of approximately $106,700 per day. G&A for the quarter is $6.2 million. As a result, adjusted EBITDA for the period stands at $21.5 million.
Looking at the balance sheet, our ending free cash position in Q1 is $37.2 million, and there is also $22.1 million in restricted cash held on behalf of the owners of the managed vessel. Next slide, please. The increase in accounts receivable was mainly driven by a timing effect on collections, with amounts expected in March received in early April. CapEx added in Q1 total $3.3 million, of which $3.1 related to items for Carolina's new long-term contract with Petrobras. The bond loan was amortized by $10 million. The gross interest-bearing debt in Q1 stands at $134.3 million, comprising $125 million under the bond loan and $9.3 million draw under the revolving credit facility. Subsequent to quarter end, we further improved our liquidity position through a $75 million tap issue under our existing bond.
At the same time, we agreed revised terms, including the deferral of remaining installments from July of 2026 through maturity. We also extended the maturity of a revolving credit facility to end of 2026. These actions improve our near-term liquidity profile and are intended to facilitate the contract preparation and SPS for Carolina and Victoria. This is part of the two-step refinancing approach, with an initial focus on addressing near-term funding requirements, followed by a broader refinance in the fourth quarter. I will now hand it back to Guilherme for some market highlights.
Thanks, Marcelo. I think we have gone through the Renecom results in great detail for Ventura Offshore Rigs, but probably worth a word or two to remind everyone of what a major undertaking this was, for Petrobras, with $4.1 billion in backlog added, 13 rigs impacted, and 33 rig years awarded as a result of a six-month-long negotiation with 10 different companies. As I had the opportunity to say before, we were very pleased with the outcome and with Petrobras' position, willing to find a mutually beneficial outcome and the result that would benefit not only Petrobras, but also the drilling contractors. They have achieved it, so kudos to Petrobras for a job well done. Again, not going to rehash the outcome for Ventura, but about $600 million in additional backlog, of which just shy of $510 million are Ventura's.
Reminding everyone that particularly for the Zonda, what we consider our backlog relates to the management fees to be made during the one-year extension. Right? Hence why the difference between $600 million total backlog versus the about $509 million for Ventura. It's also probably worth mentioning that now with the Renecom results out, Ventura has a market-leading contract coverage for the next five years amongst all drilling contractors, floater drilling contractors. Between 2026-2030, we have a 56% coverage, and that is just on firm work. However, we remain quite confident that this contractual coverage percentage will increase meaningfully as we progress with our active marketing of the SSV Victoria, which I'll cover on the next slide. Thanks.
Basically, and before kind of focusing on Victoria and giving you an overall overview, I think the same optimism you have been hearing since our last quarter's call, and not only from us, but from pretty much every offshore drilling contractor last quarter, but also this quarter, I think this optimism has just heightened. Right. The main reason for that is, I think it's based on very clear additional opportunities out there, RFIs, tender processes, and new contract announcements. Expectations are now for utilization to get easily beyond 90%. Last quarter, we were talking about 88%. Actually, some of our competitor claiming utilization close to 100% for drillships already by next year. Particularly in Brazil, I believe we have reached a stabilization between supply and demand with a rig count of around 35 rigs once a few rigs end their current contract.
I think a stable market in terms of supply and demand, but we do still have the swing factor that remains success in the exploratory wells, particularly in the equatorial margin and in the near future, also in the Pelotas Basin, which could positively impact further rig demand in country. What could also impact further rig demand are the exploratory success Petrobras has been experiencing, even in the known basins like Campos and Santos, like Tartaruga Verde, for instance. I wanted to focus particularly on the Southeast Asia, India, and Africa, keeping, of course, the Catarina in mind. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia remains the hottest spot, with Eni developing its main energy hub there and looking for two drillships for long-term contracts. Also Harbour Energy, INPEX, Mubadala also looking for rigs, and rig count is expected to rise significantly in country.
Other opportunities also exist in Malaysia, East Timor, and India. India, of course, I think it is important to spend some time on India because ONGC is now looking for up to five rigs, three drillships, one DP3 semi-submersible, and one moored semi-submersible to comply with the government's request to increase production. The same government request has also been put to Oil India, who is now looking for two drillships, again, for the same reason. Very interesting to see the developments in India and the additional rig count we will see in that part of the world.
In Africa, historically one of the brightest spots for the Golden Triangle, activity is picking up. Expectations for an increase of at least 20% in rig demand, maybe 25%, with the expected increased activity in Mozambique, Namibia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Angola, particularly for companies such as TotalEnergies, Eni, Shell, ExxonMobil. All these opportunities display a quite favorable scenario for our DP3 semi-submersible, Catarina, currently operating for Eni in Indonesia. As I have mentioned before, we are very happy with the partnership with Eni and expecting our fourth well to be exercised by Eni imminently, which would take her operating well into the third quarter of this year. The outlook for the Catarina beyond the current contract with Eni has just gotten better, given the market developments and opportunities, some of which I've just mentioned.
It's probably fair to say that it's having a high-end DP3 workhorse rig available in late 2026, early 2027, operating at 99%+. With the level of delivery, right, of the Catarina, put us in a quite a good position to benefit from some of these opportunities that we're seeing and which we are pursuing very actively. Hopefully, the 55% or 56% contractual coverage for the next five years, this number hopefully will go up as some of those opportunities potentially materialize. Going to the next slide. I mean, basically this closes our presentation. This is our standard last slide, for Q1 2026.
I always do, I couldn't close it without a big thank you to our teams onshore and offshore for delivering efficient and safe operations to our customers, while maintaining our unbeatable industry-leading cost structure and positioning the company to offer opportunities for recontracting our rigs or extending existing contracts, as we have just seen for the Victoria, the Carolina, and the Zonda. Basically, 75% of our operating fleet recontracted or had the contract extended. 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 presentation and we'll open for questions. As a reminder, and you see that on your screen, the questions are to be made in writing. Use the Q&A icon you can see on the top part of your screen there, and I'll read them out loud and answer. Okay.
We got one question on the chat. Ideally, guys, if you could place on the Q&A, that is going to be easier, I saw one on the chat. The question is: Can you provide an update on the recontracting process for the SSV Victoria? Which markets and operators are you most advanced in discussions with? I think I already provided this update, right? Of course, we have our discussions with Eni. They are always ongoing, right? We understand Eni is in the market for drillships. The Catarina can do a lot of the work that the drillships will do. Of course, we keep that dialogue open with Eni should they have further work for the Catarina.
We are, of course, looking at the ONGC opportunity because out of the three batches of rigs, three drillships, one DP3 semi, and one moored semi, the Catarina, of course, would be a very good fit for their DP3 semi category. We have participated in Total's Mozambique process and every other one I've mentioned. We are also participating and talking to potential customers. Okay. We have a new question. You talked about an expected increase in rig count in Indonesia. What is your expectations incremental rig count, and can you give a split in drillships versus semis? What we currently have in Indonesia is Eni is asking for two semis. Mubadala, two drillships. I'm sorry. Two drillships, dual activity, 7th-gen drillships. We have Mubadala also looking for drillships. For one drill ship, I should say.
Harbour is looking for a rig. They do not specify semi or drill ship, then we're talking at least four rigs. Then INPEX is also in the lookout, but they do not have anything in the market yet. We currently have in Indonesia, the Victoria and the Deep Value Driller, the DVD, two rigs. Then we're talking about a potential addition of three to four rigs in the country. Okay, another question here. I was wondering whether Ventura has any plans or considerations regarding a potential uplisting from Euronext Growth to the main list of Oslo Børs. This question is probably inspired by the movement that Constellation just did. They just uplisted, I think, this week. I think this is, of course, a possibility that we keep open.
Prior to doing that, we will be looking at a refinancing of the company around Q4 of this year. As you guys know, we've opted for a dual-stage refinancing, first using the tap for $75 million under the existing bond. Towards the end of the year, once we have better visibility on the actual capital expenditure needs for our two projects, and once we have better visibility on the future for the Catarina, plan is to do a full refinancing. That is kind of our main consideration. We do not consider uplisting. It is a possibility for the future. Okay, another question. Can you give us some guidance on daily stacking OpEx for Catarina if you do not succeed in receiving a new contract? I can give you that.
I'm not really wasting a lot of my time thinking about this because I am confident about the future of the Catarina. Giving you very conservative numbers, I would say that we can be talking about $60,000, and this is very conservative. Okay. I think we can probably do better than that, I don't want to give you a number that we wouldn't show you in real life anyway, because I don't see us getting there. Yeah, I think $60,000 is probably a reasonable number. Okay, the next question. Next question is, let me just confirm it's the next one. There's more than one. Yes. Okay. The ONGC five-rig tender was delayed several times. What is your current expectation timing for feedback and award? What is the expected contract length of any award on the DP3 semi?
End of next month, assuming no further delays, I think end of next month is when we should expect the tenders to be submitted. There have been, I think, three delays, but this is not unusual or unexpected for ONGC, guys. It's part of the program. The fact that we're seeing delays does not mean that they're having second thoughts necessarily. It's just how the process is. For those of you who follow ONGC, you have probably seen this in pretty much every tender. Okay. The current expectation is end of June. Regarding award, it really shouldn't take that long. Okay. Once they pick a rig, there's not a whole lot of contract, no negotiation, right? It's the standard contract. The processes have varied in the past, so I think we could see that happening in two months, and we could see that happening in four months.
It's really hard to give you an expectation on the time for award. All right? The length is four years plus one year optional. That's what is in the current tender. I have a question on the SPS costs for the Catarina. The SPS costs for the Catarina, they really depend on what's next for the rig, hence why we are waiting towards year-end for the full refinancing, because then we're going to have that picture. We just went through a full SPS about three years ago. Say we get a shorter-term contract, there's no need for an SPS after the current work with Eni. Now, we just talked about ONGC. Say ONGC materializes, then we'll need to do an SPS, and we are looking into that now.
We do not have a guidance on the SPS cost for the Catarina at this moment because we are working on that. Do you expect to secure back-to-back work for Catarina then, or should we expect some downtime? Would this downtime be on full cost? It really depends on what's next for the Catarina. I think there are possibilities of back-to-back work. There is a possibility where we need to stop the rig to do an SPS. What I can say is, for instance, the ONGC opportunity, you have 180 days since contract award to start the contract. Right? If you need to do an SPS, we wouldn't have any idle time. You'll do your SPS and then start a contract. Right? Other opportunities, they all look like a direct continuation. Again, it really depends on what's going to be next for the rig.
The next question. Could you manage another drillship like the Zonda in the Indonesia region? Well, I wonder where this idea came from. Of course, we could. Managing third-party rigs is something that we started with our own Catarina when we sold it to a group of investors. It was very successful, so much so that we ended up getting the Zonda for Eldorado. The relationship with Eldorado is very good. The rig is performing very well, as I had the opportunity to mention. We like that model of growth. If there is an opportunity to manage an additional rig, be it in Brazil, be it Indonesia, where we are and we know the landscape and we know the customer and all that, of course, we would consider that. This is another question, guys.
We saw one of your peers mention that Petrobras, under the new contracts, will be paying the day rate until some months ahead. Actually, this is a deferred payment, right? That's probably what you mean. That's correct. The interesting thing that happened in this Renecom renegotiation is that it was not a one-fits-all type of negotiation. Okay? Every drilling contractor had a different type of negotiation. Even within a drilling contractor, you saw different types of outcomes. Right? In our case, we saw a typical blend and extend. We saw a reverse blend and extend, where the blend, actually, the day rate went up by 60%. We saw just a pure extension. This is correct. At least one of our peers did agree to have deferred payments. It was not the case with us. We're going to get paid.
Normally, there's no deferred payment from Petrobras to any of our rigs as we negotiated. Okay. What is the next contract? What is your base case assumption for utilization for the Catarina in 2026 and 2027? If it end up winning a tender with ONGC, these tend to be pushed back. What amount of white space between contracts would make you stack the rig? Again, as I mentioned, ONGC, you have 180 days since contract signature to start the contract. It's not a lot of time considering that for a four-year contract, we would bring forward our SPS. In a no-ONGC scenario, I don't see any white space. Okay. The base case for us is to keep the rig operating. Our base case is that the rig will continue to operate throughout 2026 and 2027. Next one. What is the trigger for launching the full refinancing?
Is it Catarina contract CapEx visibility or a specific date? I think you can say all of the above. Basically, the Catarina, we expect to have some further visibility on the Catarina within the next few months. Towards end of Q3, we're going to have a pretty decent, better visibility on the CapEx requirements for the Victoria. We do know, of course, that one thing is your plan and the other one is the actuals. We're very confident about the capabilities of our team to manage the expected CapEx. I would say that towards the end of Q3, we're going to have visibility on both items. Therefore, that's when we expect to launch a full refinancing around the end of Q3, early Q4. Okay. I have another question on the MPD for the Victoria.
Regarding MPD for Victoria, how is it evolving? Should the MPD be acquired or leased? Any evolved negotiations, what should be the amounts involved? Okay. Yes, we have already signed with Weatherford. We're buying the MPD kit. Given that the rig is going to operate in Búzios now requires MPD for every operations, Petrobras is actually moving towards requiring MPD, not for every field, but for quite important fields such as Búzios. For us, it made significant sense to actually acquire the kit, which we did from Weatherford. I was actually visiting Weatherford now in early May. They already have a project manager. They're already working on it. We're hoping for delivery towards Q4 of this year. Regarding amounts, I think we were able to negotiate a good deal with Weatherford, good deal for both parties.
I think total amount, including investments, not only the MPD kit itself, but investments on the rig, it's probably around $20 million. That's the number we've been telling. Okay, next question. Do you have any figures or statistics on Petrobras' historical behavior with options, exercises, extensions, and optional terminations? I don't really have statistics or figures. What I can tell you is based on my 22 years, 23 years working with Petrobras. Basically, it really depends on well demand. Okay. If there is well demand, it's pretty obvious. Petrobras will continue to require rigs. It is normal to see options being exercised. It really is normal for options to be exercised. Petrobras much rather keep operating with a rig that is already here and knows how Petrobras works and is already fitted with Petrobras requirements. It really depends on well demand.
It's hard to say what's going to happen 2029 onwards because all our rigs are contracted at least until 2029 firm. I'll be more optimistic than pessimistic about these options being exercised. Okay, another question. Could you talk about how consolidation in Brazil could look like? Listen, consolidation, that's a topic that always comes up in our calls. Consolidation is something that is welcomed by the market. Consolidation in Brazil is no different, the market reaction than consolidation internationally. I think the drilling contractor world was very happy with the Transocean Valaris transaction, as we would be, if some consolidation were to happen in Brazil. We like the idea of consolidation. We'll be open for it. Again, only if it makes sense. If Etesco and consolidation, or Foresea and consolidation, or Foresea and Etesco were to consolidate, that would benefit us as well.
We currently have four Brazilian drilling contractors, I'm sorry. Yeah, I think it would make sense for consolidation to take place. How that's going to look like, it's really difficult to say. Okay, I have a long question here from Frederick. Frederick, bear with me here. It's a three-part question. Okay, first, could you share some more thoughts around the future work for the Catarina? I know you went through some opportunities on the slide, but keeping to Asia, there are several meaningful tenders in the region at the moment, such as the ONGC tender, the Eni Indonesian tenders, the recent Oil India requirement for two rigs. I would assume this could mean that the region may be undersupplied to fill these requirements.
Having all these new tenders caused other operators to fast-track their requirements or otherwise started processes to secure rig capacity before it's too late. I also would appreciate any color on how these dynamics potentially are different now compared to before the Middle East war. Frederick, that's a very long question. I have the impression that I have answered this. I think, starting from the last part, of course, the Middle East war has impacted demand. India, I think, is the best example. These 7+2 potential rigs for India. From what we understand, this came straight from the Prime Minister demand, right? They want to increase determination of how many reserves India has, increase productions to reduce their dependency on import of oil and gas. That makes sense. Undersupply, absolutely. I think the region is undersupplied, right?
Not long ago, we had just the Catarina operating in Indonesia, and now there was a question just before yours about how many additional rigs, and we're talking at least another four, potentially five rigs. These are processed for 2027, 2028. Yeah, I think the region is undersupplied, and that's why we are confident about the future of the Catarina in that region. Next part of the question. You guide on [$100 million-$105 million] CapEx net of mob fees and $19 million of spares. Are you able to give us an idea of when this CapEx will hit the cash flow, bulkily or spread over time? This is interesting in the context of the refinancing you're talking about in the report and help for investors when trying to assess the size of a potential new debt facility. We have incurred, up to date, about $10 million already.
We expect about 15%, 17% post-contract commencement. Okay. Bear in mind, Frederick, this is ongoing work, right? We have daily negotiations happening with several vendors and a lot of efforts being taken into pushing payment to the right. It is always helpful from a liquidity standpoint, but we are quite confident maybe about 15%-17% will certainly be pushed to 2027. Hopefully that gives you an idea on what we are talking about, liquidity, and why we are comfortable with the $75 million to take us through the end of 2026 without any major hiccups. Last part of the question here. In the report, you are quite explicit that the goal with the refinancing is to set you up to pay out 100% of free cash flow in dividends from 2027, which is very nice, by the way.
Are you able to give some color on the timing of a first dividend? i.e. will it be Q1, Q2, and what you think of free cash flow potential in 2027. On the first part, I think it's tied to your previous question, Frederick, right? It really depends on how much I'm able to push from the current CapEx commitments to 2027. Quite frankly, I don't see why this should wait a lot. I think Q2 is probably a safe bet, but if we're able to do it earlier, we would. Okay. Hopefully that answer your question. Regarding the potential free cash flow, I think it's not that difficult calculation, Frederick. We're going to be operating with rigs with significantly better day rates. We do not expect our OpEx to grow much. Okay?
The Victoria will grow a little bit because installing an MPD, of course, your OpEx goes up as well. Right? You can add probably another $10,000-$12,000 to that on your calculations. Use inflation, and then you have It's going to be a year where we're going to be generating quite a lot of cash flow. Right? We're keeping a very similar OpEx to what we have today, and the day rates are going up between 60%-85%. That's not considering the future potential work for the Catarina, so that does give you a good idea on the amount of cash flow we could be generating. Okay, one additional question. You mentioned potential consolidation and growth as part of the reason why you do a two-step refinancing. Can you elaborate on this?
I think since day one, right, we have always been very clear, and our investors actually have been very clear, that they picked Ventura to invest on because it was a very good platform for growth. That has not changed, right? This growth has been represented by getting the Atlantic Zonda, the management contract. It was represented by buying the Catarina back. We are delivering on that growth, and we feel that there are additional growth opportunities. Growth opportunities can come in the form of acquiring assets, growth opportunities can come in the form of managing third-party assets, and growth opportunities can come in the form of M&A. I think all of those options are on the table right now as we look at potential growth opportunities.
Having the financial flexibility to do a full refinancing, already knowing if there is an opportunity for growth, of course makes our life much easier and facilitates that potential opportunity from materializing. There's a question on prospects for the next possible contract for the Catarina in Asia. I think this has already been answered, Roman, a few times. We look at Indonesia, we look at India, Africa. In general, there are quite a few opportunities. There's not one opportunity that we're focusing on. There is a question being typed, so a second, guys. Let me wait for this one. Okay. Question on the Catarina. How positive are you on the Catarina situation? I'm fairly confident that we'll get follow-on work for the Catarina. I think there's more than one option out there.
I cannot tell you which one is the option we would eventually go to, but I'm fairly confident. Another question. How long could it take for the Catarina to move to India and other regions? Guys, this really depends where the rig will operate. India is a huge country. It has both sides of the coast, right, which are far from each other. It really, really depends on the region. It's really hard to say. I can tell you 30 days, but really depends if it goes to the East Coast or the West Coast. And at this point, I do not know where that would be. Any plans, another question, to proactively add MPD to units in your fleet not currently outfitted? No. Not right now. We have established a very good partnership with Weatherford.
We think it makes sense to add MPD. Bear in mind, guys, 75% of our fleet is contracted for the next three to four years, right? I won't have an opportunity to do that for those rigs. The only one you could consider adding an MPD proactively would be the Catarina and the [Cat], because we're going to be operating till this year. I do not see us adding an MPD and spending $20 million if the next contract requirement does not call for it. Okay. Since Eni is looking for two drillships and not semi-submersible for Kutei Basin, why so much focus on that in the report? I think the focus on the report is that we've been operating with Eni, and we have a 4th optional well, right?
I don't think the report would spend so much time talking about Eni so I'm not sure I understood the question. Actually, that's interesting because it does raise an interesting point. If you look at Southeast Asia and Africa, there is an overall preference for drillships over semi-submersibles, and that is a fact, right? Because drillships, you have more deck space, right? From a logistics standpoint, it's better. If your wells are far from each other, drillships, they move faster. Depending on certain motion characteristics, depending on the type of place you are, a drill ship could potentially be better. However, I think it's important to bear in mind that once everybody wants one type of asset, utilization for this asset goes up, right?
For those of you listening to our competitors in this round of earnings calls, you probably heard from Transocean saying that Transocean's estimating 100% utilization for drillships already next year. The other thing is a semi can do pretty much almost everything a drill ship can. Okay? The next best option if you don't have a drills hip is a semi. I'm not talking about the Eni opportunity here, okay? I'm talking about in general. When you say, well, Africa is requiring drillships, Indonesia is requiring drillships. They are requiring drillships, but there's only so many drillships around in the world, and I think some of that work will spill over for semis.
If you have a DP3 workhorse semi that can operate in 3,000 m of water depth, you're probably a very good candidate to do some of those jobs. Okay? Again, back to the question. I don't think we focus very much on Eni drill ship opportunities, but I think it did give a good opportunity for me to clarify that point. Thank you for the question. Next question. If your next job for Catarina is in West Africa, will you be able to operate there? Yes, we have already. We have already operated there, and with the Catarina. We operated in Angola for Cobalt. Yes, the short answer to your question is yes. Not only Ventura has operated there, but the Catarina has operated there. Is it typical for the industry to move forward the SPS upon a contract award?
Doesn't seem efficient from a capital expenditure perspective. It depends on the contract you have in front of you. It could be a wise decision, better than stopping a contract in the middle, right? Two years of a contract stopped for whatever number of days, say 60, for the sake of it. Lose 60 days of contract, lose 60 days of day rate, not do the SPS before. Usually the contracts they do require. Again, I give you an example. ONGC, right? That's probably what you have about. ONGC demands that you have all your inspections done. You wouldn't have an option anyway. Anyone who goes to operate for ONGC, they'll have to undergo an out-of-service period to get all their equipment inspected for the next five years. You don't really have an option there. Okay?
Again, if it's typical for the industry, it depends on the next contract you have in front of you because you can not only bring forward, but you can also delay, postpone a little bit in agreement with your classification society. For some cases, what you do is you postpone it, right? When you have five years of work ahead of you probably won't be able to postpone, and depending on the contractual requirements, you have no option, but you have to bring it forward. Okay, next question: "What is the competition in Indonesia in terms of drillships? I know the Deep Value Driller is with Eni, for example." That's correct. The DVD drill ship is operating for Eni. That's correct.
In the current tender, there is the Seadrill rig that's been offered. I'm not sure if Valaris is going to participate, but that's just guesswork. I think that's it. There's not a whole lot of competition, quite frankly, for those Indonesian work. Those are jobs for Eni. Okay. What is your view on any more Petrobras tenders this year, and are you planning on participating on these with Catarina or any incremental third-party rig? With the Renecom, Petrobras has awarded, as we mentioned, 33 rig years. They have 2026 and 2027 at least covered. Okay. Future work would be mostly for 2028, 2029 onwards. Depending who you ask, you're going to get a different answer. Okay. They could come to the market late this year for work for 2028 onwards. My guess is going to be early next year. Okay. It could be late this year.
My guess is going to be early next year. We always look at the Catarina for every Petrobras opportunity. Okay? Of course, it would make a lot of sense. She's a sister vessel to the Victoria. Of course, it would make a lot of sense to have her next to the Victoria. You have to put in the balance the amount of CapEx required to bring a rig into Brazil, and that's no different for the Catarina. Of course, it's significantly less than any other rig because the Catarina was built with Petrobras specifications in mind. Granted, almost 15 years ago. Those specifications, they have evolved, but we're not starting from scratch like everybody else is. We always look at the Catarina for future work in Brazil. Okay? If we would consider incremental third-party rigs, yes.
We have been very successful doing that for the Catarina when she didn't belong to us. We are being very successful with Eldorado, with a great relationship. We know how to operate rigs for third party, and we've been doing so successfully. I mentioned in one of the previous questions that we're looking at growth opportunities. This is a very viable growth opportunity and one that we like. Does Petrobras require, I think there's MPD missing on this question. Does Petrobras require MPD for Sépia- Atapu fields? No, they do not. It is not every field that Petrobras is requiring MPD. What other fields are requiring MPD besides Búzios? To be frank, currently, Petrobras required for Búzios and for Marlim. Most recently, those are the two where Petrobras include as part of the requirements. Petrobras, they come to the market in two fashions.
One is for a specific field where they do a request for proposals, and they come for what they call the pool. The pool means that you can go pretty much anywhere in the coast, in the Brazilian coast, where Petrobras has a block. Okay? In specific fields, we've seen it for Búzios, we've seen it for Mero, and we've seen it for the Equatorial Margin. These are the only three where we've seen specific ones. For the pool, it could be that they add these requirements to increase flexibility on the rig, but we don't know. I think we have to wait and see what's going to happen in the next tender. That might happen early next year, or potentially late this year for those more optimistic.
Any thoughts on Valaris scrapping their semi-DPS-1 and potentially MS-1, too?" Guys, when you hear about competitors scrapping their units and when we hear about oil companies increasing their exploration campaigns, this is all music to any drilling contractor's ears. Okay? My thoughts is, I think this is good. It's important. It helps the balance, the supply-demand balance. Yeah. Good news. I think that these are my thoughts. Okay, last question is actually a compliment. "Great quarter, guys. Well done." Thank you. I guess, with that, I wanted to thank you all for your questions. Thank you all for your participation, your interest in Ventura Offshore. I want to wish you all a great day, and we'll talk again in three months' time. Thank you. Have a good day.