Italian offshore engineering and construction firm Saipem, in a joint venture with South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd (DSME), has won a contract with Brazil's Petrobras to build an FPSO for the Búzios offshore field in Brazil.

The FPSO P-79 project is worth overall approximately $2.3 billion. Saipem’s portion is approximately $1.3 billion.

The FPSO vessel will allow initial separation of gas from the oil extracted in the deep offshore reservoir and will have a production capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 7.2 million cubic meters of (mcbm) gas per day, with a storage capacity of two million barrels of oil.

Saipem and DSME will execute the entire FPSO project which includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication, and integration of the topsides of the FPSO units and the installation of the mooring systems, as well as the hookup, the commissioning, and the start-up.

The Búzios field, the world’s largest deepwater oil field, is located in the pre-salt region of the Santos Basin, around 200km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro at water depths ranging from 1,600m to 2,100m. 

Maurizio Coratella, Chief Operating Officer of the E&C Onshore Division at Saipem, said: “This project represents a key step forward in our portfolio diversification strategy. It is also a further demonstration of trust of our clients in our consolidated capability to manage complex, technologically advanced projects in compliance with the highest safety and environmental standards”.