Spliethoff’s vessel pair coming to support Saipem’s ops at huge gas project in Brazil

January 16, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Italy’s engineering, drilling, and construction services giant Saipem is tasked with a job on a giant natural gas project off the coast of Brazil, where two vessels from the fleet of the Amsterdam-headquartered Spliethoff, a member of the Spliethoff Group, are expected to start their assignments soon.

With the arrival of the 2023-built m/v Brouwersgracht and m/v Bloemgracht in Rio de Janeiro, Spliethoff claims that it officially started a new offshore project in Brazil for Saipem. Both vessels have completed clearance in Rio and are now heading to Guarujá, where they will begin working on the Raia project, which involves the supply of approximately 200 kilometers of pipeline.

The Dutch firm perceived this to be “a great assignment” for its B-type vessels. Equinor, as the operator, submitted the declarations of commerciality and plans of development for two natural gas fields, Raia Manta and Raia Pintada, in the BM-C-33 concession in September 2023 to Agência Nacional de Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP).

MODEC is in charge of constructing a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) for the Raia development in the pre-salt layer of the southern Campos Basin, around 200 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, and permanently moored in a water depth of about 2,900 meters. The delivery of the unit is expected in 2027.

Equinor’s field partners are Repsol Sinopec Brazil (35%) and Petrobras (30%). The Raia asset is considered to be one of the major natural gas projects in Brazil, which comprises three different pre-salt discoveries: Pão de Açúcar, Gávea, and Seat, with recoverable reserves of natural gas and oil/condensate above 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

An investment of approximately $9 billion is estimated to be required to breathe life into the project that is expected to create up to 50,000 direct and indirect jobs throughout the field’s lifecycle. Saipem’s pipe-laying vessel, Castorone, was hired for work on the Raia development.

The gas project’s export capacity could represent 15% of the Brazilian gas demand at start-up, which is slated for 2028.