A single subsea contractor has emerged as the low bidder in a Petrobras tender to supply a fresh batch of flexible risers to attend one of its planned floating production, storage and offloading vessels to be installed in the giant Buzios pre-salt field off Brazil.

Two industry sources told Upstream that Texas-based Baker Hughes has fended off competitors by submitting what has been described as a “very aggressive” commercial offer of 142.5 million reais ($24.8 million) to provide flexible lines for the Buzios-5 project.

“It has been a while since Baker Hughes was awarded a contract for flexible risers in Brazil, so that might explain why the company bid so aggressively in the tender,” said a source.

UK-headquartered TechnipFMC, through local subsidiary Flexibras, finished second with a bid worth 208 million reais, while NOV Flexibles proposed 210.9 million reais to carry out the job.

Eight other contractors declined the opportunity to bid in the tender, including Subsea 7, another source said.

Petrobras intends to contract up to 33.2 kilometres of flexible risers and associated equipment, pipe reels for storage, loading, supervision and assembly services to assist in operations from Buzios-5 via the Modec-owned Almirante Barroso FPSO.

The flexible risers being sought by Petrobras will be used for service lines — including water injection and gas lift — in the Buzios-5 subsea configuration.

Saipem kept busy

Italy’s Saipem has been awarded a $325 million contract by Petrobras covering the engineering, construction and installation of steel lazy-wave risers and associated flowlines for Buzios-5.

These will include five oil production wells and five injection wells for a total length of 59 kilometres, a gas export trunkline running 16 kilometres to be linked to the Route 3 pipeline, 11 rigid jumpers and 21 foundation subsea structures.

Prysmian came out on top in September in a tender to supply up to 27 kilometres of steel tube umbilicals (STU) for Buzios-5, but after engaging in negotiations with Petrobras, the two sides could not reach an understanding and the bidding opportunity was cancelled, another source explained.

Tender 'revoked'

In a letter sent to contractors and obtained by Upstream, Petrobras said it revoked the tender based on a federal law that dictates a state-controlled company can do so if proposals end up above its budget parameters after negotiating with all companies.

Prysmian submitted a proposal worth 52.6 million reais, beating rivals MFX and Marine Production Systems with respective offers of 63.2 million reais and 71.8 million reais. It remains unclear if Petrobras will launch a new tender to contract the STUs.

The Buzios-5 development will comprise a total of 15 development wells, of which 10 will be covered by the Saipem contract.

Petrobras has already signalled it may use flexible technology again in the pre-salt for oil producers and gas injectors, despite past performance failures in the Tupi and Sapinhoa fields.

Prolific pre-salt field

In the case of Buzios-5, Petrobras is assessing the possibility to contract later this decade a new generation of flexible risers comprising lines for the last three oil producers and two injectors to be linked to the Almirante Barroso FPSO.

Petrobras is currently producing via four FPSOs — P-74, P-75, P-76 and P-77 — in the highly productive Buzios pre-salt field, with the Almirante Barroso floater due to enter operations in 2022.

In a conference call last week, Petrobras production development and technology director Rudimar Lorenzatto said the 10 top oil producing wells in Brazil are all coming from Buzios, with some flowing at more than 50,000 bpd.

Petrobras is also tendering for two large packages of subsea equipment, including 566.4 kilometres of flexible risers and 545.4 kilometres of thermoplastic umbilicals to be used in a multitude of projects off Brazil.

Field Development

Race for Buzios-5 flexible risers reaches climax with 'aggressive' low bid