Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26 -- Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Co. Ltd. (MODEC) has signed a letter of intent with Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) to supply, charter, and operate a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel as the Pilot FPSO in the giant Tupi field area of the Santos basin off Brazil.
Under terms of the contract, which involves a 15-year lease with five 1-year options, MODEC will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, mobilization and operations for the FPSO, including topsides processing equipment, hull, and marine system. FMC's Sofec unit will design and provide the spread mooring.
MODEC will convert the M/V Sunrise IV very large crude carrier into the Cidade de Angra dos Reis MV22 FPSO. The vessel will be deployed in the Tupi area and will initially gather production from five subsea wells with the capability to handle four additional production wells in the future.
The FPSO, which will have a storage capacity of 1.6 million bbl, will be capable of processing 100,000 b/d of oil or 150,000 b/d of total fluids. It also will be able to inject 100,000 b/d of water.
The Cidade de Angra dos Reis MV22, designed to remain in the field for up to 20 years, will arrive in Brazil by yearend 2010 and will be installed in water as deep as 2,150 m.
The vessel, MODEC's sixth in Brazil, will be the first permanent FPSO to operate in the Tupi area. MODEC currently is operating the Fluminense FPSO, the Cidade do Rio de Janeiro MV14 FPSO, and the Cidade de Macae MV15 FSO.
The Cidade de Niteroi MV18 FPSO and Cidade de Santos MV20 FPSO are under construction and scheduled to be installed in fourth-quarter 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Earlier this month, Tullow Ghana Ltd., operator of Jubilee oil field off Ghana, signed a 7-year lease agreement in which MODEC will provide and operate the FPSO vessel for Jubilee field (OGJ, Aug. 18, 2008).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
