Petrobras launches bid for offshore oil production vessels in Sergipe Deepwater Project

Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras has launched a bid for up to two offshore oil production vessels for its Sergipe state deepwater project SEAP, it said in a securities filing late on Friday.

The floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units will be contracted on the build, operate and transfer (BOT) model, in which the hired firm projects, builds and operates the unit for some time before transferring it to Petrobras.

The Brazilian oil giant said the move includes bids for a firm FPSO for the SEAP 2 project, which it expects to start operating in 2030, and an option to purchase a second unit for the SEAP 1 project.

Each platform would be able to process 120,000 barrels of oil and up to 12 million cubic metres of natural gas per day, according to Petrobras.

A Petrobras executive earlier this month had already said the firm was planning to launch the new process by the end of 2024 after a previous attempt failed to attract bids, delaying the project that was supposed to start production in 2028.

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo. Editing by Fabio Teixeira and Diane Craft)