SBM Offshore said that it has completed $1.63bn project financing of the Almirante Tamandaré floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which will be deployed at the Búzios field in Brazilian waters.
According to the Dutch floating production solutions provider, a consortium of 13 international banks is providing the project financing. The company has secured insurance cover from four international export credit agencies (ECA).
The financing for FPSO Almirante Tamandaré is made up of five separate facilities. Each of them has a weighted average cost of debt of 6.3% and a post-completion maturity for 14 years for the ECA covered facilities as well as the uncovered facility.
SBM Offshore is the operator of the FPSO, which incorporates the company’s Fast4Ward new build, multi-purpose hull. It will have a capacity of processing 225,000 barrels of oil and 12 million m3 of gas per day.
The company stated: “The FPSO will have an estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity below 10 kgCO2e/boe and will benefit from emission reduction technologies such as the closed flare technology which increases gas utilisation, preventing it from being burnt into the atmosphere.”
In January 2022, SBM Offshore sold a 45% stake in FPSO Almirante Tamandaré to its long-standing business partners Mitsubishi and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK).
The vessel will be deployed in the Santos Basin, nearly 180km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. It has a lease and operate contract for 26.25 years with Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), which was awarded in July 2021.
Delivery of the FPSO Almirante Tamandaré is anticipated in the second half of next year.
The Búzios field is being operated by Petrobras in partnership with its Chinese partners CNODC and CNOOC.
In late 2022, Petrobras awarded a contract worth around $2.8bn to Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) for the P-83 FPSO as part of the Búzios field development project.
