Brazil OSX To Build Second FPSO Oil Platform With SBM For $775 Million

SAO PAULO -(Dow Jones)- Brazilian oil-services company OSX Leasing, part of OSX Brasil SA (OSXB3.BR, OSXRY), Tuesday said it signed a preliminary deal for Single Buoy Moorings Inc. Offshore (SBMO.AE) to build a second floating production, storage and offloading oil platform, or FPSO, at an estimated cost of $775 million.

OSX will lease the OSX-2 platform to its sister company, OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA (OGXP3.BR, OGXPY), under a 20-year contract, at a cost of around $290,000 a day, OSX said in a statement.

OSX and OGX both belong to Brazilian billionaire businessman Eike Batista. OSX raised some $1.4 billion in an initial public offering of shares in March 2010.

The FPSO is expected to begin operations in mid-2013, OSX said. The company has previously said that it will operate alongside OSX-1 in the Waimea field in the southern Campos basin, off the coast of southeastern Brazil.

OSX-2 will produce a maximum 100,000 barrels of oil per day, and will be able to store up to 1.3 million barrels of oil, the company said.

OSX said it plans to finance 80% of the construction costs, for which it has hired ING Bank N.V. and Santander Brasil S.A. to structure the loans.

OSX-1, which was finished in the South Korean dockyards of Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd (010140.SE), is scheduled to arrive in Brazil by the middle of this year.

OSX secured a $420 million loan to finance OSX-1, paying 425 basis points over the London interbank overnight rate for the eight-year loan, which was assembled by Norway's DVB Bank with Credit Agricole, Eksportfinans, GIEK, ING Bank, Santander and ABN Amro. OGX agreed to pay a day rate of around $263,000 for the first vessel.