Statoil and its partner Sinochem have agreed to purchase the Peregrino floating production, storage, and offloading vessel from Maersk. The FPSO has been in use at Statoil-operated Peregrino field in Brazil since production start-up in 2011 (OGJ Online, Apr. 11, 2011).
BW Offshore, the FPSO’s contractor, will take over the vessel’s operation after a 6-month transition period.
The Peregrino FPSO project was initiated in 2007. The conversion from a very large crude carrier to an offshore oil production installation required more than 15 million labor hr and an investment of more than $1 billion.
At present the vessel is operating in the Campos basin 85 km off Rio de Janeiro. The unit has a storage capacity of 1.6 million bbl of oil and has produced well over 15 million bbl during its first year of operation.
Thore E Kristiansen, senior vice-president for development and production international, South America and sub-Saharan Africa, said, “Brazil plays an important part in Statoil's international growth strategy specializing in deep water and heavy oil. We’ve been present in Brazil since 2001 and this was the right time for us to invest further. Our operatorship at Peregrino proves that the company's strategy in pursuing complex projects is paying dividends.”
Statoil’s exploration portfolio in Brazil includes seven licenses. Over the past year, Statoil has made two discoveries at Peregrino south and Pao de Acucar.
Statoil will formally take title of the FPSO on July 31.
