Petrobras Issues Statement Rejecting FUP’s Accusations Regarding FPSO Platform Contracts For The Búzios Field

After FUP Made a Series of Accusations Against Petrobras Regarding the Process and Contracting of FPSO Platforms for the Búzios Field, the Company Issued a Statement of Rebuttal Refuting the Comments and Reinforcing the Regularity of the Process.

The state-owned company Petrobras issued a statement of rebuttal and clarification against the accusations from the Unique Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) regarding the contracting of the FPSO P-80 and P-82 platforms for the Búzios Field. The federation accused the company of fraud in the bidding process, concerning the participation of only two companies in the process, both from the same economic group, Keppel Shipyard and Sembcorp Marine.

After FUP Accusations of Fraud in the Bidding Process for the Contracting of FPSO Platforms for the Búzios Field, Petrobras Responds

The national market for oil, natural gas, and other fuels has been quite unstable in recent days due to conflicts between Petrobras and FUP. This is because the oil workers’ federation made a series of comments and accusations against the state-owned company regarding the contracting process for two FPSO-type platforms for production in the Búzios Field, P-80 and P-82. 

FUP requested more transparency and the reports of the contracting process for the FPSO platforms from Petrobras and stated there is a possibility of fraud in the bidding. Therefore, the federation warned, among the accusations, about the relationship between the state-owned company and the bidding companies. Since both are from the same economic group, Keppel Shipyard and Sembcorp Marine, and were the only ones to submit proposals in the competition. The state company was then accused of potential parallel negotiations and discrepancies in the bidding regulation.

After the accusations, Petrobras issued a statement of rebuttal through the Petronotícias website and stated that all comments are false and that the entire process is following the correct regulation among the companies.

The state company also mentioned that, for the bidding process for contracting FPSO-type platforms for the Búzios Field, the local content regulations of the contracts already established and firmed by ANP were also observed.

Check More Details of the State’s Statement Against FUP’s Accusations in the Bidding Process for FPSO Platforms for the Búzios Field

Following the comments in response to FUP’s statements, Petrobras reinforced that, in the bidding process for contracting the FPSO P-80 platform, a public pre-qualification process was conducted, in which any interested party was eligible to participate.

Thus, a total of 13 companies that met the initial requirements of the process were pre-qualified. Among them, two companies complied with the processes, and the proposal presented by Keppel Shipyard clearly met the technical and economic requirements established by Petrobras for the project.

Moreover, it stated that Keppel and Sembcorp were still in the process of discussions for a merger and that some approvals are still needed for the finalization of the union. Thus, both companies were and continue to operate separately and independently, not impacting the bidding process for contracting FPSO platforms for the Búzios Field. 

“Finally, it is essential to recall that the hiring models adopted by Petrobras in the past, subdividing the EPC into multiple contracts and accepting companies without tradition in this type of venture, resulted in several interface problems and default by companies, which led to significant increases in costs and construction schedules, and generated losses for the company,” concluded Petrobras in a statement.