Brazilian oil and gas player Enauta has decided to terminate the contract for the acquisition of the FPSO Cidade de Santos with Japanese floater expert Modec.
Enauta signed a deal with Modec to buy the FPSO in December 2023 for $48.5m, with $7.275m paid on signing while the outstanding balance was supposed to be paid upon closing. The company received 50% of the amount paid upon signing after the deal was cancelled.
The FPSO Cidade de Santos currently works on the Uruguá and Tambaú fields in the Santos Basin and is operated by Modec. The platform has 25,000 barrels of oil and 10m cu m of gas per day in production capacity and 700,000 barrels of crude inventory.
The acquisition of the unit was linked to Enauta agreeing to buy the Uruguá and Tambaú fields and the natural gas pipeline from these fields to Mexilhão field, where it connects to the Route 1 pipeline from operator Petrobras for up to $35m, which has not yet been closed.
The company said on Monday that it is in discussions with Petrobras regarding the implications of its decision not to buy the FPSO.
At the time of the deal, Enauta stated that the acquisition of the assets was an alternative to decommissioning, with the prospect of extending their productive life. The Uruguá and Tambaú fields are not key Petrobras assets as they account for less than 1% of the production operated by Petrobras.
The fields are located in the northern portion of the Santos Basin, between 140 and 160 km off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, in water depths ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 meters.
