Statoil Buys FPSO Unit In Brazil From Maersk

Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil ASA (STO) Tuesday said it has signed a deal to buy a floating production, storage and offloading unit from Maersk (MAERSK-B.KO) for an undisclosed figure. The unit, which Statoil will buy together with its partner Sinochem, has been used at the Statoil-operated Peregrino field offshore Brazil since production start-up in 2011. Norwegian company BW Offshore Ltd. (BWO.OS) will take over the operations on the floating production, storage and offloading, or FPSO, unit from Maersk and the transition is expected to take at least around six months. The Peregrino FPSO has a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels of oil, and produced well over 15 million barrels during its first year of operation, said Statoil. Statoil owns seven licenses in Brazil. "Brazil plays an important part in Statoil's international growth strategy specialising in deep water and heavy oil. We've been present in Brazil since 2001 and this was the right time for us to invest further," said Thore E Kristiansen, head of development and production international, South America and sub-Saharan Africa in Statoil.