Samsung, Hyundai and Daewoo are getting ready to participate in Brazil’s Petrobras first offshore leases in more than seven years, sources quoted by Reuters confirmed. Grouped by consortia, companies are expected to bid after several months of preparations.
Samsung Heavy Industries will participate in a consortium with Toyo and its Brazil-based shipyard EBR; while Hyundai Heavy Industries will bid along with Keppel and Bras FELS; Daewoo Heavy Industries will bid associated with Saipem, sourced confirmed.
This offshore leases marks Petrobras’ comeback, after seven years of just leasing its platforms with long-term contracts that can be amortized over 20 years.
This oil lease marks an important step for the state-owned company, in its role as a key customer for Asian shipyards. Such units could cost around $1,7 billion to build, according to the sources.
As for Petrobras, it requires units to produce 180,000 barrels per day of oil, and 7,2 cubic meters of gas for its Buzios field, the second largest in the country.
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Offshore leases and FPSO’s
Platforms considered for the offshore leases, are the ones known as FPSO’s, or Floating production, storage and offloading units. As we have reported previously, FPSO units are a growing trend in upstream, and they suppose a major technological leap for deep-water production.
Three of the main advantages of FPSO’s are the reduced investment they represent in front of oil rigs; faster rollout periods, and thus, quicker return of the investment. An FPSO can be rolled out in about 10 months or a year, while a typical oil rig needs 2 or three years to be rolled out.
Particularly in Brazil, these units are dominating the market, as the country has identified several reserves in ultra-deep offshore areas. Petrobras, in this regard, has the most aggressive development plans for this technology.
For the latest Petrobras tender, companies Modec and SBM pre-qualified to participate, but dropped out of the tender, as they preferred a different model in which they could use their own engineering instead of Petrobras’.
Now, besides the consortia led by Samsung, Daewoo and Hyundai, ten companies have pre-qualified. Offers are due on Monday, February 1.
