Brazilian oil company Petrobras said it signed a letter of intent on Feb. 24 with Holland’s SBM Offshore to hire a FPSO for the Búzios field in the Santos Basin pre-salt.

The FPSO unit, which is a floating vessel used by oil and gas companies for storage and offloading purposes, will be the sixth platform to be installed in the field.

The FPSO will be the largest oil producing unit operating offshore Brazil and one of the largest in the world, with daily processing capacity of 225,000 barrels (bbl) of oil and 12 million m3 of gas. Furthermore, the FPSO will have a water injection capacity of 250,000 bbl per day and a minimum storage capacity of 1.4 million bbl of crude oil. The FPSO will be spread moored in approximately 2,000 m water depth. Delivery of the FPSO is expected in the second half of 2024.

The contract will last for 26 years and 3 months and begin when the platform is received in 2024.

SBM was the sole bidder for a Petrobras contract to build the Mero 4 platform in the Santos Basin that is planned to enter operation in 2025 with a capacity to produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day, Reuters reported on Feb. 23.

“SBM Offshore is proud to announce that Petrobras has awarded the company the LOI for the 6th FPSO development in the world class Búzios field in Brazil,” Bruno Chabas, CEO of SBM Offshore, said. “This award for one of the largest production units in the world demonstrates the trust placed in our ability to reliably deliver large-scale FPSOs and the agreement again confirms the significant value we bring to our clients with our industry leading Fast4Ward program. SBM Offshore teams look forward to starting the execution phase in order to continue to deliver value to one of our key clients Petrobras”.

Offshore