San Francisco: Petrobras said on Friday that a new had arrived in the Lula field offshore Brazil to help boost output there.
The FPSO Cidade de Itaguaí MV26’s hull was converted from a VLCC by Chinese shipyard Cosco, and the vessel was fitted with oil processing equipment in Brazil.
It can hold 1.6 million barrels of oil before requiring a relief tanker to offload the production for transfer to shore.
Brazil’s state-run oil company is very keen to boost output from one of the country’s most prolific areas as it tries to recover itself from the multiple blows of economic downturn, industry slump and the infamous corruption scandal that has tainted Petrobras’ name.
This particular project is in the Iracema Norte section of the Lula field located 300km southeast of Santos Bay in Sao Paulo state.
The Lula field is 65 percent owned by Petrobras, 25 percent by Britain’s BG and 10 percent by Portugal’s Galp Energia SGPS.
