China’s Shandong Kerui group is leading the race to supply a processing plant to handle a big increase in natural gas flows from Petrobras-operated fields in Brazil's Santos basin, write Gareth Chetwynd and Xu Yihe.

The plant, known as UPGN, will handle up to 21 million metres per day of natural gas that will be brought to shore by a third major pipeline bringing from the pre-salt fields.