Japanese duo starts building Shell’s Brazil-bound FPSO

June 30, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

The steel-cutting ceremony for a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit destined for a field offshore Brazil operated by the Brazilian subsidiary of the U.K.-headquartered energy giant Shell has been held at the Sumitomo Heavy Industries’ Yokosuka shipyard in Japan.

Steel-cutting ceremony for FPSO Gato do Mato; Source: Cristiano Pinto da Costa via LinkedIn

Based on a social media post by Cristiano Pinto da Costa, President of Shell Brasil, the start of construction of the hull of FPSO Gato do Mato, slated to work at its namesake field, represents the beginning of the execution phase for a project reaffirming Shell’s confidence in the potential of the Brazilian pre-salt.

This is also described as a historic moment, being the first time an FPSO hull of this size will be built in a modular manner in two different countries, China and Japan.

After securing a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for the project last year and a multi-year operations and maintenance gig this year, MODEC tapped Sumitomo to work together on the hull of the new unit this April.

Set to be moored at a water depth of approximately 2,000 meters, around 200 kilometers south of Rio de Janeiro, the unit is designed to produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day (boepd), with production expected to start in 2029.

Located in the Santos Basin, the Gato do Mato project is a pre-salt gas-condensate discovery that covers two contiguous blocks: BM-S-54, a concession contract Shell entered into in 2005, and Sul de Gato do Mato, a production sharing agreement obtained in 2017. The final investment decision for the project was disclosed in March.

The Gato do Mato Consortium includes Shell as operator and 50% shareholder, Ecopetrol (30%), TotalEnergies (20%), and Pré-Sal Petróleo S/A (PPSA), acting as the representative of the Brazilian Government in the production sharing agreement (PSC).

Shell’s interest in the project is set to increase to 70% once the recently announced deal to swap stakes with TotalEnergies in Gato do Mato and Lapa fields comes through.