Japan’s Modec has signed a deal with Equinor to deliver one of the most complex floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in its history for a $9bn BM-C-33 project in Brazil.
A sales and purchase agreement between the two companies is a two-phase lump sum turnkey contract covering both front-end engineering design (FEED) and engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) for the entire FPSO.
The FPSO vessel will be delivered in 2027 and deployed at the field cluster of Pao de Acucar, Seat & Gavea, located in the giant pre-salt region at the southern part of Campos Basin, approximately 200 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, and permanently moored at a water depth of approximately 2,900 m.
The FPSO will apply Modec’s new build, full double hull design, developed to accommodate larger topsides and larger storage capacity than conventional VLCC tankers. It will also be the second fully electrified unit and the tenth in the pre-salt region delivered by Modec. The topsides have been designed to produce approximately 125,000 bopd as well as produce and export approximately 565m scfd of gas. Its minimum storage capacity of crude oil will be 2m barrels.
Modec will also be in charge of operations and maintenance service of the FPSO for the first year from its first oil production in 2028, after which Equinor will take over. Equinor’s field partners are Repsol Sinopec Brazil (35%) and Petrobras (30%).
