The Brazilian company Petrobras, one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, has been a customer of Herrenknecht Vertical since 2007. Petrobras is the largest company in Brazil, with almost 75,000 members of staff worldwide and an annual sales income of 118.2 billion US dollars in 2008. In addition to a large number of offshore projects, Petrobras also exploits new terrestrial oil fields.

Two Herrenknecht Vertical Slingshot units of the Terra Invader 350T type are currently employed in the Bahia region in the northeast of Brazil. The first of the two machines started its work in June 2009 and has already successfully completed its first deep drill with a final depth of 2,814 meters.

The innovative Herrenknecht Vertical rig has already fully proved its superiority over conventional deep drilling rigs in remote areas. The pre-assembled substructure and the mast can be erected hydraulically, so that no costly and time-consuming use of heavy duty cranes is necessary. Furthermore, due to the high degree of automation, none of the dangerous work is required which must be carried out manually when using conventional drilling rigs. Thus, the TI-350T provides maximum safety protection for the drilling personnel.

A further 15 drills at the same oil field are planned using this equipment. Another drilling rig supplied by Herrenknecht Vertical GmbH is set to be delivered to support the project, and will start its work in Bahia at the end of August.