State-controlled Brazilian giant Petrobras expects the decommissioning of the Cacao shallow-water field in the Espirito Santo basin to be concluded next year.

“We are in the process of ratifying the bidding so that the platforms can be removed from the field by the end of 2020,” said Petrobras decommissioning manager Eduardo Zacaron.

Petrobras received a total of 11 proposals in the Cacao decommissioning tender back in June.

In a presentation last week in Rio de Janeiro, Zacaron did not offer any comment on who Petrobras might award the Cacao decommissioning job to, only saying the tender was a success in terms of participation.

“We were extremely pleased by the response in the Cacao tender, which demonstrates the viability of the contracting model we offered,” he added.

Houston-based Epic Companies was said to have emerged as lowest bidder in that process, with $31 million.

Other bidders for the job include William Jacob Managements ($37.8 million), Triunfo ($38.5 million), Allseas ($40.9 million), Brasil-Mota ($43.2 million), Saipem ($46.1 million), Alphatec ($50.3 million), Sapura Energy ($51.9 million), McDermott International ($73.5 million), Sacanb Offshore ($77.4 million) and SS Naval ($200 million).

Questions have since been raised about the financial health of the Epic Companies group, although Petrobras said it would not comment on the status of an ongoing tender.

The Cacao decommissioning project covers three wellhead platforms located six kilometres offshore, 13 wells and three pipelines lying in less than 20 metres of water.

In 2016, Petrobras awarded Brazilian player CSE Mecanica & Instrumentacao a contract to remove some of the topsides modules of the trio of platforms. Well abandonment activities were completed that year.

The workscope of the new tender calls for all three platforms — PCA-1, PCA-2 and PCA-3 — to be completely removed from the field, with the contracted company also in charge of finding a destination for the structure and disposed materials.

The three platforms and two catwalks combined are estimated to weight about 1725 tons, according to market regulator ANP. The Cacao decommissioning is considered a landmark project as Petrobras and other operators in Brazil must decide what to do with offshore infrastructure nearing the end of its field life.

“Cacao will be the guinea pig of the decommissioning process in Brazil. Even though it is small in scope, it served as the basis for our contracting model covering engineering, preparations, removal and disposal services,” Zacaron told an audience.

Even if Petrobras awards the Cacao contract in the next few weeks, work on the field is only expected to begin in the second quarter of 2020, as no offshore activities are allowed in the region between October and March due to the reproduction cycle of marine life.

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Petrobras eyes award for Cacao decommissioning