A bevy of bidders have lined up allies as they prepare to battle to win a major order to deliver a floating production, storage and offloading vessel for Petrobras’ Albacora field offshore Brazil, amid a revamp of payment terms offered by the Brazilian operator.

Over the past two weeks, Brazil’s Ocyan, Norway’s BW Offshore, Malaysia’s MISC and India’s Shapoorji have stepped up work in finalising proposals along with their respective partners - mostly Chinese yards - for submission to Petrobras on 15 September.