Petrobras to pick Mexilhao platform builder

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) plans in April to select a contractor to build a production platform for giant Mexilhao gas-condensate field on Block BS-400 in the Santos basin off Brazil.

March 31, 2006

Peter Howard Wertheim
OGJ Correspondent

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar. 31 -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) plans in April to select a contractor to build a production platform for giant Mexilhao gas-condensate field on Block BS-400 in the Santos basin off Brazil.

Petrobras estimates that the field, discovered in 2003 in 1,591 ft of water, holds 2.54 tcf of natural gas and will cost $1.9 billion to develop (OGJ, Nov. 28, 2005, Newsletter). Petrobras plans for platform construction to start in the second half of this year and for production to start as early as 2009

Competitors for the contract include two groups of companies and a shipyard: the Mexilhao consortium (Odebrecht, Ultratec, and Techint); the Atlantico Sul consortium (Andrade Gutierrez, Queiroz Galvão, Camargo Corrêa, Iesa, and Aker Promar); and Mauá-Jurong shipyard in Janeiro State.

Plans call for the Mexilhao platform to produce 15 million cu m/day of gas and 3,200 cu m/day of condensate.