SBM OFFSHORE: FPSO P-57 Starts First Oil Production off Brazil

FPSO P-57 started first oil production on 17 December 2010 on the Jubarte field offshore Brazil in the Campos Basin. This major project milestone marks the final delivery and hand over of the FPSO to Petrobras and has been reached two months ahead of schedule.

The initial contract for the supply of the FPSO to Petrobras was signed in February 2008, with delivery of the unit planned 33 months later offshore Brazil with a further two months scheduled for installation and hook up. Construction works were performed both in Singapore and Brazil with the contractual requirement of 65% Brazilian content being exceeded.

SBM Offshore will operate the facility for the first three years of production at the Jubarte field which is located 80 km off the Espírito Santo coast at a water depth of 1,260 metres.

The FPSO will produce oil of 17 degrees API and is capable of processing up to 180,000 barrels of oil and 2 million cubic metres of gas per day, facilitating production from 22 interconnected wells, of which 15 are producers and seven are water injectors.

This project is one of the most technically complex facilities SBM Offshore has designed and built for Petrobras so far, and also one of the most challenging in terms of project execution with the high local content requirement for construction in Brazil.

SBM Offshore N.V. (IHC Caland N.V. prior to July 2005, Euronext: SBMO) is a Dutch-based global group of companies selling systems and services to the offshore oil and gas industry. Its constituent companies started their offshore activities in the early 1950s and SBM subsequently became a pioneer in single point mooring (SPM) systems. The firm leases and operates Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels, and is involved in the design and engineering of dynamically positioned drilling vessels, jack-up drilling rigs and heavy offshore cranes. It is a main board listed company on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange and has been a member of the AEX index since 2003.

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Source:  SBM Offshore, December 21, 2010;