Petrobras Awards $2.3B FPSO Contract

A consortium of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) (KRX: 04660) and Saipem (OTCMKTS: SAPMY) has won its first order for a large-scale offshore facility in two years, DSME reported Monday.

The approximately 2.6 trillion won (US$2.3 billion) contract from Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) calls for construction a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) facility to develop the Buzios field offshore Brazil, DSME noted in a written statement.

According to a written statement from DSME, the FPSO will be able to produce 180,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 7.2 million cubic meters per day of natural gas. Moreover, the company pointed out the vessel will be capable of storing 2 million barrels of crude oil. It expects to complete construction of the FPSO in the second half of 2024.

Separately, Petrobras pointed out late last week the FPSO – named P-79 – will be the eighth such unit to be installed in the pre-salt Buzios field. The company noted that four units are already operating in the Santos Basin field, accounting for more than one-fifth of Petrobras’ total production. The fifth, sixth, and seventh FPSOs – Almirante Barroso, Almirante Tamandare, and P-78, respectively – are under construction and the ninth FPSO (P-80) is in the contracting stage, the company added.

Discovered in 2010, Buzios is the world’s largest deepwater oil field and should produce more than 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by decade’s end, Petrobras stated.

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