Offloading: a shuttle tanker at work off Thailand
Petrobras hunts Gulf shuttle tankers
Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras is seeking via tender three shuttle tankers for crude oil transportation in the Gulf of Mexico, a bidder for the contract said.
Petrobras wants to be the first company to bring oil out of a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) in the deep-water Gulf and is aiming for delivery by 2009.
In late November, the US Minerals Management Service granted approval to Petrobras' conceptual plan to bring the first FPSO vessel into the Gulf.
The tender is expected to close this week, the bidder told Reuters last night.
Pipelines are the preferred method of oil transportation from Gulf of Mexico oilfields, but floating storage facilities are being considered for some new deep-water project, where pipelines would be hindered by subsea canyons and uneven terrain.
A FPSO would gather oil from deep-water wells for storage, and then offload production onto a shuttle tanker for delivery to the US Gulf Coast.
"Petrobras has been looking for three shuttle tankers in the past week," the shipping source said. "They are looking for new tankers or converted vessels."
Each tanker will have a 450,000 barrel cargo capacity, he said.
Shuttle tankers would come from the Jones Act oil tanker fleet after modification, rather than very costly brand new designs, a shipping analyst said.
The US shipping fleet is protected by the Jones Act, which requires US ownership, construction and crew for all coastal waterborne commerce.
While coastal shuttle tanker market has been active in Europe, the US market has been slow to embrace this mode of waterborne transportation for offshore oil fields due to heavy reliance of pipelines and expensive ship conversion costs.
"This contract is hot because it is the first contract in the US, and it would help the winner to secure future contracts as well," the source said.