Brazilian oil field’s story unfolds: Rig lease and multimillion-dollar financing of FPSO revamp in place

September 9, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Oslo-listed oil and gas E&P player BW Energy has moved forward with its plans for an oil field in the Campos Basin off the coast of Brazil, thanks to the completion of financing for the refurbishment of a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit and a short-term lease of a development rig.

Following a final investment decision (FID) in May 2025 for the Maromba field development, which targets 500 million barrels of oil in place, additional steps have been taken to bring this project to life. Envisioned to entail an integrated drilling and wellhead platform (WHP) and a refurbished FPSO, the project is expected to enable BW Energy to more than double its total net production by 2028.

As a result, the company has wrapped up a $365 million project finance facility, backed by China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure), to fund the refurbishment and redeployment of the FPSO Maromba, formerly known as Polvo. In addition, the firm finalized a short-term lease with Minsheng Financial Leasing (MSFL) for the acquisition of the Maromba development rig.

According to BW Energy, the project finance facility, which was significantly oversubscribed, will cover approximately 80% of the total FPSO project cost provided by a syndicate comprising the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), Arab Banking Corporation (Bank ABC), National Bank of Fujairah (NBF), and Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD).

While CEXIM, ADCB, and Bank ABC acted as mandated lead arrangers, ADCB and Bank ABC acted as structuring and advisory and documentation banks. Bank ABC is also acting as the technical advisory bank. The facility, which has an interest rate of SOFR plus a margin of 2.8%, is structured as a project finance loan with progressive drawdowns during the construction period, followed by a 6.5-year amortization period after project completion.

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The short-term lease with MSFL covers the purchase price of $107.5 million for the BW Maromba B Super Gorilla class jack-up rig, allowing BW Energy to begin preparations for the Maromba field development while working with MSFL to finalize the long-term funding.

The company underlines that the current lease, which is structured as a bareboat charter with interest-only payments, will be replaced by a long-term charter upon completion. The first oil from the Brazilian project is scheduled for the end of 2027. BW Energy anticipates a plateau production of 60,000 barrels of oil per day.

With one million barrels of storage capacity, the FPSO Maromba will have a total liquid capacity of 100,000 barrels per day, an oil production capacity of 65,000 barrels per day, and a water treatment capacity of 85,000 barrels per day.

Brice Morlot, CFO of BW Energy, commented: “The closing of this financing marks an important milestone in the Maromba development, demonstrating our ability to secure competitive long-term funding and build strong relationships with a diversified group of new lenders from Middle East and Asia.

“Furthermore, it reflects our strategy of reusing existing production infrastructure, which not only reduces overall development costs and environmental footprint but also enables access to cost-effective ECA-based financing.”