Offshore Brazil: Production Starts at FPSO Unit
In February, a second floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO)* unit deployed by NYK for the BM-S-11 consortium through a joint venture company started oil production in a pre-salt area off Brazil.
This FPSO unit, FPSO Cidade de Marica, is owned by a shareholder consortium comprising SBM Offshore N.V. (Netherlands), Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás S.A. (Brazil), and a joint venture company between NYK (48.72 percent; head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; president: Tadaaki Naito) and the Mitsubishi Corporation (51.28 percent; head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; president & CEO: Ken Kobayashi). The joint venture has a 20-year time charter contract with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) to operate the FSPO.
NYK will aim to further advance its expertise in the FPSO business by dispatching technical staff to this project as well as FPSO Cidade de Paraty.***
In accordance with its “More Than Shipping 2018” medium-term management plan, NYK will continue to make use of its extensive technical know-how to expand and develop its business in the offshore industry, which is expected to grow remarkably.
- Outline of FPSO
Oil processing capacity 150,000 barrels of oil per day
Gas processing capacity 6 million cubic meters per day
Oil storage capacity 1.6 million barrels
Water injection capabilities 200,000 barrels per day
Mooring type Spread mooring
* An FPSO unit is a ship-shaped offshore installation that produces crude oil by separating solids, water, and gases from liquid drawn from reservoirs beneath the seabed and storing the oil until it is offloaded to shuttle tankers or export tankers.
** BM-S-11 is a consortium (comprising Petrobras (65%), BG E&P Brasil Ltda (25%), and Petrogal Brasil Ltda (10%)) that owns the BM-S-11 fields offshore Brazil.
*** FPSO Cidade de Paraty is deployed for the BM-S-11 consortium and started oil production in June 2013 in the Lula Field.