Piranema Spirit, the first FPSO in the world to use the cylindrical hull design, is sailing on its way to the Brasfels shipyard (RJ) for adaptation works

Good news for professionals in the marine industry. The Brasfels shipyard in Angra dos Reis (RJ) is waiting for the FPSO Piranema Spirit, belonging to the joint venture Altera Infrastructure (formerly Teekay Offshore). The platform is heading to the shipyard for adaptation works and will later fulfill a contract between Altera and the Australian Karoon for production in the Neon field, in the Santos Basin. 

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Petrobras demobilized the FPSO Piranema Spirit, installed in the Piranema field, in Sergipe. The Brazilian oil company notified Altera Infrastructure (formerly Teekay Offshore) of the date in 2020, complying with a contractual procedure that requires ten months' notice.

The demobilization of the platform generated, at the time, reactions within the government of Sergipe. Worried about the drop in revenue in the midst of the crisis, local authorities put pressure on to keep the project in operation for another year.

Local production recorded a strong accelerated drop in the face of the oil price crisis

The strategy of demobilizing the FPSO has been studied by Petrobras since local production began to record a sharp drop, but it was accelerated in the face of the oil price crisis. In recent years, the asset has been producing an average of 2,5 bopd, compared to the plant's capacity of 30 bopd. In April, the volume was reduced to 862 bopd.

The only deepwater field in the state of Sergipe, Piranema started operating in 2007. The demobilization of Piranema Spirit is part of a list of units that will be deactivated due to the crisis and the low indicators of the projects involved.

Piranema was the first FPSO in the world to use the cylindrical hull design. The vast majority of FPSOs are built from VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) vessel hulls, “at the end of their career”.

Altera Infrastructure and Karoon enter into contract

The anticipation of the FPSO Piranema Spirit decommissioning schedule occurs at a time when Altera Infrastructure is negotiating with Karoon the use of the production unit in the Neon field, in the Santos Basin.

The companies discuss the value of the daily fee, and the Norwegian group prepares a study (pre-FEED) to detail the necessary adaptations in the unit's production plant and the costs of the adaptation work, which will be carried out in a shipyard in Brazil.

Neon's pre-FEED was finalized in October. Karoon's original plan, drawn up before the crisis, foresaw that the project would start operating in 2023, interconnected to two horizontal producing wells and a gas injector.

Ocyan and the Australian company Karoon sign the contract for FPSO Cidade de Itajaí with the acquisition of Baúna

The Altera&Ocyan joint venture expanded its customer portfolio last Friday (06/11) with the signing of a charter and operation contract for the FPSO Cidade de Itajaí (CDI) with Karoon Energy Ltda (a company listed on the Australian stock exchange), which is the new holder of the concession for the shallow water Block BM-S-40, where the Baúna field is located, in the southeast of the Santos Basin. The JV has operated the CDI in the Baúna field since 2013 for Petrobras.

The change in customers is due to the acquisition of the block by Karoon, which also expanded the contract with Altera&Ocyan for another four years, which guarantees the operation of the CDI in Baúna until February 2026, with the additional option to renew for another two years, i.e. until 2028.

“We are excited to have Karoon as a new customer and the expansion of the contract, which would expire in February 2022, with Petrobras. The renewal confirms that Altera&Ocyan has been presenting high operational and safety performance, which adds important market value both to our JV and to the new operator of the field”, celebrates Jorge Mitidieri, Vice President of Integrated Services at Ocyan.

FPSO Cidade de Itajaí reached the mark of more than 109 million barrels of oil produced with an average operational uptime of 99,7%, since the beginning of operations in 2013 until now. Operated by the Altera&Ocyan joint venture (50/50 partnership between Ocyan and Altera Infrastructure), the FPSO has safety and performance indices that reinforce the success of the operation.