Oslo Stock Exchange-listed oil and gas E&P company BW Energy has inked a deal with Italy’s oilfield services provider Saipem to buy a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is currently working offshore Brazil for Petrobras.
The deal comes only a day after Petrobras approved the sale of its total stake in two sets of deepwater post-salt offshore concessions- Golfinho and Camarupim clusters – to BW Energy for $75 million. This acquisition is expected to add approximately 9,000 barrels of oil per day to BW Energy from early 2023.
The FPSO Cidade de Vitória , which BW Energy has decided to acquire from Saipem, has been working on the Golfinho field within the Golfinho cluster in the Espírito Santo Basin since 2007.
In a statement last Friday, BW Energy informed that it had signed an agreement to acquire the FPSO Cidade de Vitória from Saipem for a cash consideration of $73 million . This acquisition is subject to fulfilment or waiver of conditions precedent with an expected closing and takeover of the FPSO in the first quarter of 2023 .
When it comes to $73 million, which the company will pay to Saipem in fixed consideration for the FPSO Cidade de Vitória , this will be done in stages with $25 million due at closing, $13 million due at FPSO takeover and $35 million to be paid in 18 monthly instalments following the takeover.
BW Energy believes that this transaction will accelerate its build-up of a local operating organisation in Brazil and increase stakeholder engagement ahead of the Maromba development.
Carl K. Arnet , the CEO of BW Energy, remarked: “Establishing a solid working relationship with Brazilian authorities and other stakeholders is key to a successful Maromba development. Having two operating assets in Brazil will create several synergies and make us an attractive local employer.”
The FPSO Cidade de Vitoria with 1.6 million barrels of storage capacity can produce more than 100,000 barrels/day of oil and has additional capacity for gas production and compression, positioning BW Energy to efficiently increase production from the Golfinho cluster with “ample oil and gas handling capacity to accommodate the upside from planned future developments.” The firm also points out that this FPSO acquisition will enable it to reduce the whole field OPEX.
The Golfinho field has six wells for oil production – two for gas production and two for water injection – which are connected to this FPSO. The gas produced is exported through a 12’’ diameter pipeline to the Cacimbas Gas Treatment Unit for processing.