Six contractors have submitted bids in a Petrobras tender for the charter of a jack-up drilling rig to carry out operations at mature fields off Brazil’s north-eastern coast, as global demand for such units are on the rise.

Petrobras first tried in late 2021 to contract a jack-up — in the first tender for this type of rig in more than a decade — but later cancelled the opportunity after the proposed units were either disqualified on prices or for not meeting the bidding criteria.