Petrobras inks $1.4bn SapuraCrest deals

SapuraCrest Petroleum has confirmed it has bagged a trio of pipe-laying vessel construction and charter contracts worth $1.4 billion from Brazilian oil giant Petrobras.
The Malaysian oil industry services giant is to build one of the units in Brazil with the others being constructed outside the South American energy powerhouse, it revealed in a statement on Tuesday.

SapuraCrest has been in the running to land half of the total of six flexible pipe-laying support newbuildings approved by Petrobras' board.
SapuraCrest subsidiary TL Offshore has been handed the job of building the deep-water units and chartering them to Petrobras, all for work in Brazilian waters.
SapuraCrest has reportedly received bids from a list of Brazilian yards that include OSX, Eisa, STX, Brasfels and Wilson & Sons for construction of one unit.

OSX wins SapuraCrest pipe-layer order

OSX wins SapuraCrest pipe-layer order

Brazil’s OSX has scooped $263 million contract from SapuraCrest to build a pipe-laying support vessel at one of its fledgling yards.
Eoin O'Cinneide 29 February 2012 10:34 GMT
The company’s Acu shipyard in Rio de Janeiro state, which has yet to be completed, beat off competition from various other builders to land the contract which it confirmed on Wednesday.

Malaysia’s SapuraCrest revealed in November that it had won a $1.4 billion deal from Brazilian state-owned oil behemoth Petrobras for the charter of a trio of yet-to-be-built pipe-layers. Only one of the newbuilds was earmarked for a local yard with two set to be built abroad. There are no optional contracts lined up, however.

Upstream previously reported that, apart from OSX - controlled by Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista - builders STX, Eisa, Brasfels and Wilson & Sons were in the running for the one Brazilain-built unit.

SapuraCrest has a joint venture in Brazil with Norwegian rig and drillship owner Seadrill through the latter’s subsidiary in the country, Seabras.

Seadrill is still aiming to float Seabras in Brazil in April and, amongst other things, plans to throw its stake in the pipe-laying trio into the listed vehicle along with a trio of ultra-deepwater rig and three drillships.

The three pipe-layers are all expected to start their Petrobras charters from October 2014, Seadrill revealed on Wednesday.

Published: 29 February 2012 10:34 GMT | Last updated: 29 February 2012 10:35 GMT

New Brazilian pre-salt oil discovery

Statoil together with operator Repsol Sinopec and partner Petrobras has confirmed a high-impact discovery in the Pão de Açúcar prospect offshore Brazil. The partnership announced today that it has made a high impact discovery in the Pão de Açúcar prospect located in the BM-C-33 block in the Campos Basin. The well is located some 195 kilometres offshore Rio de Janeiro State in 2,800 metres of water.


The Pão de Açúcar well encountered two pre-salt accumulations comprising a hydrocarbon column of 480 metres with a total pay of around 350 metres. A test performed in a partial section of the pay zone flowed 5,000 barrels per day of light oil and 28.5 million cubic feet per day of gas. This was a choked Drill Stem Test (DST) with very limited drawdown.


The Pão de Açúcar discovery is the third find made in the BM-C-33 block after Seat and Gávea and confirms the area’s high potential.


“The development potential of the Pão and Gávea discoveries will now be evaluated by the partnership. This discovery increases our understanding of the pre-salt potential in the Campos Basin and improves our confidence in the recently acquired acreage position in the pre-salt Kwanza basin of Angola,” says executive vice president for Exploration in Statoil, Tim Dodson.


“Statoil’s exploration strategy focuses on high impact opportunities and the deepening of core areas. The Pão de Açúcar success shows that we are delivering on our strategy,” continues Dodson.


“Statoil has clear ambitions to grow in Brazil through new exploration opportunities. The Pão discovery will become an important building block in our growth ambitions,” says Kjetil Hove, country president for Statoil in Brazil.


Repsol Sinopec is operator of the exploration consortium with a 35% stake. Partners Statoil and Petrobras hold respective 35% and 30% shares. Statoil is also the operator of the Peregrino field in Brazil, which came on stream in April 2011.


The Pão discovery is the sixth high impact discovery made by Statoil in the last 12 months. The other discoveries are Skrugard and Havis in the Barents Sea, Johan Sverdrup (former Aldous/Avaldsnes) in the North Sea, Peregrino South in Brazil and Zafarani in Tanzania.