MODEC’s FPSO destined for Brazil to sport Norwegian compressors

November 10, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

Norway-based TMC Compressors has been picked by Japan’s MODEC to supply a marine compressed air system for a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit under construction.

The Norwegian firm will provide FPSO Gato do Mato with a large-capacity marine compressed air system, including compressors to supply control and service air on board the vessel. The value of the contract has not been disclosed.

The FPSO Gato do Mato – Orca project is being carried out through a partnership between Shell (50%), as operator, Ecopetrol (30%), and TotalEnergies (20%), with Pré-Sal Petróleo S/A (PPSA) participating as the production sharing contract manager.

“We have designed our compressors so that the offshore crew can easily maintain them without the need to bring on board an external service technician. An enabler of this approach is to use compressors that have been developed solely for marine and offshore use, which means that they have been specially designed for a marine operating environment – such as on board an FPSO that is located far from shore,” said Hans-Petter Tanum, TMC’s director of sales and business development.

The unit will be located around 200 kilometres from shore, in the Santos Basin, in a pre-salt gas-condensate discovery that spans two contiguous blocks. The first one, BM-S-54, is a concession contract entered into by Shell in 2005, and the second, Sul de Gato do Mato, is a production sharing agreement obtained in 2017.

Once completed and installed, the FPSO will be capable of producing 120,000 barrels of oil per day, and it will be moored at a water depth of approximately 2,000 meters.

Following a steel-cutting ceremony in June 2025, MODEC held a steel strike ceremony for the FPSO Gato do Mato aft hull block earlier this month. The Japanese player expects the first oil in 2029.