Ocyan attends FPSO Brazil Congress

Ocyan team at the Congress: Clarice, Jorge, Cássia, Rodrigo, Aloysio and Marceloarcelo

Ocyan presented new technological solutions for the industry during the FPSO Brazil Congress 2018 held on May 29 and 30 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. During the event, which Ocyan also helped to organize, the company presented innovative solutions for the FPSO market, notably the FPSO Pioneiro de Libra, developed by the 50/50 joint venture TK-Ocyan, formed by Ocyan and Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. (Teekay Offshore), as well as the financing model for projects of similar scale. This is the first time that this international congress is held in Brazil.

“Bringing a global congress like this to Brazil is very important. Nearly 200 people from the oil and gas industry attended the two-day event. This trend is for this market to grow, since Brazil is the future of the FPSO industry. For 2019, the target is to reach 300 participants. We were very excited with the result,” said Jorge Mitidieri, Ocyan’s integrated services director and the event’s chairman.

On the first day of the event, FPSO operations director Clarice Romariz and operations manager Daniel Figueiredo, both from the joint-venture TK-Ocyan, presented details on the successful project FPSO Pioneiro de Libra in the panel “Successful Delivery of FPSO Pioneiro de Libra Using an EPC Lump Sum Model.” This is the first vessel to conduct long duration tests in the Mero Field, which is part of the gigantic Libra Block, which has been active for six months. “The construction and operation of FPSO Pioneiro de Libra are a success story based above all on strategic partnerships. The delivery of a project of this scale was the result of a team effort made over 30 months, with 19 million hours worked without any problems. The challenge now is to maintain safety standards and to continually optimize operations,” said Clarice Romariz. Daniel provided information on Ocyan’s current contracts and presented the special features of the Libra Block. “The Libra field has a viscous reservoir, which is very good. Today, we have two FPSO projects, Pioneiro de Libra and Cidade de Itajaí, and we expect to maintain this JV partnership for future bid processes,” he noted.

On the second day, Ocyan’s subsea director Marcelo Nunes presented a new technological solution for ultra-deep waters: a new hybrid riser model, the “Composite Multi-Bore Hybrid Riser” (CMHR), developed by Ocyan in partnership with Magma Global, in the panel “Analyzing the Impact of a Riser Tower System for an FPSO.” “CMHR provides many benefits for operators. Today there is constant demand for reducing weight and loads in FPSO operations. As a decoupled solution, CMHR applies approximately 20% of the loads applied by other solutions, resulting in a weight difference of up to 9,000 tons per FPSO,” said the executive. The partnership between Ocyan and Magma was announced in April, at OTC, in Houston.

In the panel on financing lines in the FPSO industry, Cassia Dias, Ocyan’s project finance director, talked about the risks and structures for financing guarantees in project finance and relations with banks. “Banks verify the entire scope of a project before financing it, including safety issues and all construction phases, in addition to the default risk of the offtaker during the agreement. Borrowing costs could vary considerably depending on the project’s risks and you have to leave the banks very comfortable for them to lend funds,” she clarified. Cassia also said that banks prefer to finance projects in which offtakers participate through consortiums or partnerships, instead of projects with only one company, with a view to mitigating risks.

Ocyan’s booth at the Congress

Ocyan created a booth in the exhibit hall in which it presented its projects and showcased a scale model of FPSO Pioneiro de Libra.

“The purpose of the booth was to share with participants the challenges of our projects and the best technological solutions for each one, especially FPSO Pioneiro de Libra,” concluded managing director Jorge Mitidieri.

FPSO Congress Brazil

The congress was held in Brazil for the first time, after an evaluation conducted in 2017, when the growth in Brazil’s FPSO sector became clear. With over 45 units already operational, 13 new units under construction and other 19 FPSOs planned for the coming years by domestic and international companies, Brazil will continue to be world’s largest market for FPSO operators and suppliers. More than 45% of all new FPSO projects will be installed in Brazil in the next five to ten years.

The FPSO Congress Brazil promoted in-depth discussions on some of the main issues affecting the country’s FPSO industry. Working groups also explored the topics of project execution, talent development, digital solutions, FPSO process standardization and modules.

The congress is part of the successful global series of FPSO conferences, of which the Global FPSO Congress continue to be world’s largest gathering of industry professionals. Brazil has effectively entered the official calendar, with the next edition already confirmed for May 28 and 29, 2019.