Petrobras, Brazil’s troubled state oil firm, has re-started the bid process for construction of an FPSO for offshore operations at the giant Libra pre-salt field in the Santos Basin. It would be the first production unit at the field.
The company, severely in debt and scarred by a massive bribery scandal, cancelled the first attempt in August 2015 when the offers being bid were too high, compared to what could reasonably be expected in the international market.
The original bidding process included a local content requirement but that condition will be dropped for the second attempt because an exemption was triggered by the abnormally high pricing the first time around.
Petrobras is the major stakeholder (at 40%) in a consortium developing the Libra field. Other members of the consortium are: Shell (20%), Total (20%), CNPC (10%) and CNOOC (10%).