In its push to boost deepwater production, Petrobras is aiming to launch a leasing tender to build an FPSO described as Brazil’s largest-ever oil platform. The operator is considering a processing capacity of 225,000 B/D, Reuters reported.
It will be the seventh FPSO in the Búzios field in the pre-salt Santos Basin. In June, Last month, Petrobras said it had reached production records on the field of 664,000 B/D and 822,000 BOED.
Similar deepwater production vessels have cost between $2.5 billion and $3 billion to build. Bid winners build and own the platforms; Petrobras then leases the FPSO in contracts with day rates of up to $1 million for often more than 15 years.
The operator has prequalified about 10 companies for bidding, including Japan’s Modec and Amsterdam-based SBM Offshore, according to Reuters’ sources, who added the competition is expected to take several months.
In March, Petrobras launched a tender for an FPSO to be installed at the Mero field, as part of the Mero 4 project. Estimated to come on line in 2025, it will have capacity to process 180,000 B/D of oil and 12 million m3 of gas per day. The deadline for submittal of proposals in 17 August.
Located in the Santos Basin, the Mero field is at a water depth of approximately 2000 m. Petrobras operates the field, in partnership with Total, Shell, CNPC, and CNOOC.
Decommissioning Begins in Campos and Sergipe-Alagoas Basins
Petrobras received approval from the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, and the Navy to begin decommissioning of the P-12 platform in the Campos Basin. Decommissioning of P-07 and P-15 in the Campos Basin and of FPSO Piranema in the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin are also planned for 2020.
According to the company's strategic plan for 2020–2024, 18 production platforms will be decommissioned by 2024. The P-07, P-12, and P-15 platforms will be offered at a public auction scheduled to take place in July.
In August 2019, a state official said the decommissioning of 21 oil rigs in the Campos Basin is estimated to cost about $12 billion over the next 5 years.