(PetróleoHoje) Shell and the BW Offshore / Saipem consortium are close to concluding the contracting of the FPSO of Gato do Mato, a unit that should start operating between 2024 and 2025. Sources involved confirmed to PetróleoHoje that, after months of negotiations, Modec is out of the process and that the award of the contract between the oil company and the consortium of companies is about to be issued at any time.
Apparently, the choice for the BW Offshore / Saipem group was defined in January. Both Shell and the consortium do not give details about the negotiations. The value of the deal remains confidential. The unit will be chartered for a period of 15 years, with the possibility of extension for two optional periods of five years each.
Shell’s negotiations with BW Offshore / Saipem and Modec had been dragging on since the beginning of 2021. At the end of that year, there was an expectation that the contracting of the Gato do Mato FPSO would be approved in early 2022. there was no definition on the choice of the winner. The BW Offshore / Saipem consortium, however, had been seen as a favorite for some time.
Capable of producing 90,000 bpd and compressing 8.5 million m³/day of natural gas, in addition to storing up to 1 million barrels, the Gato do Mato FPSO project will be based on a new build concept. There is no definition of which foreign shipyard will be responsible for the construction work of the unit.
To meet the contract’s local content requirements, part of the work on the Gato do Mato FPSO will have to be carried out in Brazil. As traditionally happens with contracts of this type, the consortium will select some items to be executed in the country.
The trend is that the group has already sewn pre-negotiations, and the formalization of business and choices will be defined after signing the contract with Shell.
The tender to contract the FPSO of Gato do Mato was launched in 2019, when Shell released the RFI (Request for Information). At the time, the unit’s capacity was not specified in the document, which presented more than one technical alternative, with a production plant for 60,000 bpd and 90,000 bpd.
The definitive bid for chartering the FPSO of Gato do Mato was only launched in March 2020, when the oil company specified the capacity of the production unit. SBM was also invited by Shell to participate in the tender, but chose not to submit a bid.
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