THE NEWS

According to Petronotícias, Foresea presented its Programa de Excelência em Sustentabilidade e Operação (PESO) on the final day of ROG.e 2026, in Rio de Janeiro. The program received the RSE Award in the ESG category, granted by consultancy SER, which recognizes projects in risk management, safety, ESG, and sustainability.

PESO integrates efforts across Foresea's Sustainability, Supply Chain, Innovation, Engineering, and Socio-Environmental departments. Carlos Alberto Junior, the company's executive sustainability manager, described the program's objectives as spanning emissions reduction, waste and effluent management, fuel consumption, and positive engagement with local communities and the supplier base.

Among the program's reported results: a Fugitive Emissions Management System reduced refrigerant gas emissions by 48.5% in its first year, avoiding approximately 9,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent and 2,636 kilograms of refrigerant gases during 2024, while generating an estimated R$ 360,000 in savings from reduced fluid replacement. A digital sustainability initiative active since 2019 has processed approximately 900,000 checklists online across operated rigs, eliminating more than 1.8 million sheets of paper — equivalent, per the company, to 178 trees preserved and 4.08 tonnes of CO₂ avoided. The program's Aterro Zero project claims to have eliminated all landfill disposal of waste generated in operations, with proceeds from recyclable material sales directed toward further socio-environmental initiatives.

WHY IT MATTERS

The claim of 100% waste reuse in offshore drilling operations is not a figure to pass over without scrutiny — and that scrutiny is precisely what makes it analytically interesting. Offshore drilling generates a heterogeneous waste stream: drill cuttings, chemical-laden muds, oily rags, spent filters, packaging, food waste, and more. Achieving full diversion from landfill across that spectrum, if independently verified, would represent a meaningful operational benchmark for the Brazilian drilling sector.

Foresea has not, in this announcement, specified the third-party verification methodology behind the 100% figure. The RSE Award from consultancy SER provides external recognition, but the award criteria — focused on risk management, safety, ESG, and sustainability broadly — do not necessarily constitute a technical audit of waste diversion rates. This is not a criticism of the program; it is a gap that Foresea and similar companies will likely need to address as Brazilian regulators and international operators raise the bar on ESG disclosure standards. ANP's evolving environmental reporting requirements and the growing influence of international frameworks such as GRI and SASB on Brazilian operators create a near-term context in which methodology transparency becomes as important as the headline number.

The Energy Flow platform merits separate attention. A predictive energy optimization tool for dynamically positioned vessels and rigs — capable of simulating scenarios up to 72 hours ahead using real-time environmental data — addresses one of the more persistent cost and emissions challenges in offshore operations. The reported 61.7% reduction in energy consumption during tests on the Norbe VI rig is a striking figure. DP systems on MODUs consume substantial fuel, and any validated reduction at that scale would have direct implications for operating costs and Scope 1 emissions reporting. The caveat is that test conditions and sustained operational performance can diverge; the industry will be watching whether these numbers hold across a broader operational envelope.

For Brazilian offshore operators and their contracting counterparts, the structural significance of PESO lies less in any individual initiative and more in its integrated architecture. The program links digital tools, supplier evaluation criteria, community engagement, and waste management under a single operational framework. This kind of cross-functional integration is increasingly what major operators — including Petrobras, which has its own ESG commitments embedded in its strategic plan — are looking for when assessing drilling contractors. A contractor that can demonstrate measurable environmental performance data, not just policy commitments, is better positioned in competitive tender processes.

The supplier development component of PESO also deserves attention from a Brazilian supply chain perspective. Evaluating and developing partners based on environmental, social, and governance criteria introduces ESG considerations into procurement decisions at the contractor level — a layer below the operator. As Petrobras and international operators active in Brazil tighten their own supply chain ESG requirements, drilling contractors that have already built this evaluation capacity are better positioned to meet pass-through compliance demands without friction.

The social initiatives — including the training of 182 municipal education managers in Macaé and support for the MacaEco cooperative, which processed more than 193 tonnes of recyclable materials in 2025 — reflect a community engagement model centered on Macaé, the operational hub of Brazil's offshore drilling industry. For a company whose workforce and logistics are deeply embedded in that municipality, these programs serve both a social function and a license-to-operate function. Whether they constitute material ESG impact at scale is a separate question, but their operational logic is sound.

CONTEXT

ROG.e 2026 provided a visible platform for this announcement, and the timing is deliberate. Industry events in Brazil's offshore calendar are increasingly used by service companies and contractors not just to showcase equipment and contracts, but to position their ESG credentials with operators and regulators in attendance. The RSE Award adds third-party signal value to what might otherwise read as internal reporting.

More broadly, the Brazilian offshore sector is navigating a period in which environmental performance is moving from a reputational consideration to a contractual and regulatory one. The direction of travel — toward mandatory disclosure, supplier chain accountability, and verified metrics — makes programs like PESO worth tracking, both for what they achieve and for how they define the methodology behind their claims.