Saipem and its joint venture partner Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME), a specialist shipbuilding and offshore contractor, have been awarded a contract for the construction of a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) by Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras)
Named P-79, the FPSO contract is worth a total of $2.3 billion and will be deployed at Búzios offshore field in Brazil.
This will be the eighth unit to be installed in Búzios field, the world’s biggest deep-water oil field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt area.
Maurizio Coratella, Chief Operating Officer of Saipem’s E&C Onshore Division, says: 'This project represents a key step forward in our portfolio diversification strategy. It is also a further demonstration of trust of our clients in our consolidated capability to manage complex, technologically advanced projects in compliance with the highest safety and environmental standards.'
Currently, there are four units operating in Búzios, which account for more than 20 per cent of Petrobras' total production. The fifth, sixth, and seventh platforms planned for the field (FPSOs Almirante Barroso, Almirante Tamandaré, and P-78) are under construction, and the ninth unit (P-80) is under contracting process.
The P-79 will have a capacity to process 180,000 barrels of oil per day and 7.2 million cu m of gas per day. The delivery is scheduled for 2025.
The scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication and integration of the topsides of the FPSO units and the installation of the mooring systems, as well as the hookup, the commissioning and the start-up.
The contract foresees compliance with 25 per cent of local content, a requirement stipulated in the call for tender and committed to by the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum for the Búzios field.
The project foresees the interconnection of 14 wells to the FPSO, 8 of which are producers and 6 injectors, through a subsea infrastructure composed of rigid production and injection pipelines and flexible service pipelines.
