SBM Eyes Brazilian Offshore Wind Generation

With a Focus on Energy Transition, SBM Returns After a Period Without Participating in Petrobras Bids While Preparing to Invest in Brazilian Offshore Wind Energy

SBM has a strong partner in Brazil, as our country accounts for 42% of the company’s global revenues, and thinking about expanding its business, the company hopes to secure contracts in the wind energy sector.
After a period without participating in Petrobras bids, the company signed a leniency agreement with the government in 2018 regarding its involvement in a corruption scheme and is back in full swing, securing the chartering contract for the FPSO Mero 2.

New Markets

Thus, the Dutch oil platform manufacturer, keeping an eye on changes in the energy market, now expects to enter the promising Brazilian offshore wind energy market.
The president of SBM in Brazil, Eduardo Chamusca, stated that the company has a dedicated team to prospect new business opportunities and that the wind and gas markets in Brazil are among the focus areas of study.

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According to Chamusca, SBM’s idea is to leverage its knowledge in floating platforms to develop technology for offshore wind projects.
SBM already has an offshore wind project underway, as the company was contracted by EDF to develop a floating system for installing wind turbines off the French coast.

“It will be a gradual transition and it won’t necessarily change our ‘business’ overnight. It’s a first step towards diversification, but it could, in the future, in ten to fifteen years, become the company’s main ‘business’. The balancing act is how the oil and gas industry will behave”, declared SBM’s president.

Chamusca also stated that the company has been monitoring the Brazilian offshore wind market for quite some time, and a sign of its warming was the contract signed between Petrobras and Equinor for joint project studies along the Brazilian coast.

In the line of cleaner fuel projects, Brazilian natural gas also attracts SBM’s attention, but in the long term, the company bets on the reduction of this technology’s costs globally and targets the gas from the Brazilian pre-salt.
In the short term, SBM continues to focus on Petrobras bids and is confident in the Brazilian potential to charter between four or five units per year over the next five years.

Today, SBM has contracts to lease seven platforms in Brazil, six for Petrobras and one for Shell.

In February of this year, SBM declared its intention to keep the Brasa shipyard, a joint venture with the Synergy group, in Niterói (RJ), closed due to uncertainties regarding the demand for platforms after the easing of local content regulations.