Petrobras has sanctioned a second development phase at the Mero pre-salt field, signing a letter of intent with Netherlands-based SBM Offshore for the charter of a large floating production, storage and offloading vessel for the project, writes Fabio Palmigiani.

The Mero-2 FPSO will have capacity to produce 180,000 barrels per day of oil and 12 million cubic metres per day of natural gas. It will be chartered for 22.5 years and is earmarked to enter operations in 2022.

SBM, which is understood to have edged out archrival Modec of Japan in the Mero-2 FPSO tender by submitting a dayrate of $690,000, intends to build the unit using its Fast4Ward concept design.

SBM already has three Fast4Ward FPSO hulls under order in Asia and has suggested it may place additional orders in the future.

The first hull was launched late last week at Chinese shipyard Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) and is destined for Guyana, while SWS and China Merchant Heavy Industry are building another two Fast4Ward hulls, one of which is set to become the Mero-2 FPSO.

The award marks the first order won by SBM in Brazil after the contractor last year reached an agreement with a plethora of local authorities over historic corruption cases in the country.

“Not only does this award represent the company’s re-entry in Brazil, it also re-confirms the competitiveness of our Fast4Ward concept while expanding its geographical reach,” said SBM chief executive Bruno Chabas.

The spread-moored FPSO will have injection capacity of 250,000 bpd of water and storage room for 1.4 million barrels of oil.

Mero-2 is expected to feature a topsides plant weighing about 33,000 tonnes, thanks in part to technological innovations made by Petrobras, such as the elimination of the main compressor to increase separation pressure and the use of triethylene glycol technology in the gas dehydration unit to simplify the deck’s footprint.

The Mero-2 FPSO project will feature 16 development wells, of which 11 will be initially put on stream via a rigid riser-based system.

In order to comply with local content requirements governing the production sharing contract, part of the topsides modules will likely be built in Brazil, with integration of the floater also expected to take place in the country.

Petrobras operates Mero with a 40% stake. The field is estimated to hold between 3 billion and 4 billion barrels of oil in recoverable volumes.

Weekly

SBM nets Mero FPSO contract