Petrobras America News

Samsung Heavy Industries said on Wednesday that Petrobras America filed a lawsuit against the South Korean shipbuilder with a U.S. court, claiming 283 billion won ($249.32 million) in damages.Petrobras America claimed that it paid excessive charter fees for a drill ship built by Samsung Heavy, Samsung said in a regulatory filing. Samsung delivered the vessel to U.S.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) are investigating the fatality of a worker on board the Petrobras 10,000 drillship in the Gulf of Mexico. Petrobras America Inc. reported the fatality on board the Transocean Ltd. owned drillship at about 4:45 a.m., December 2, 2017. The rig was in an area of the Gulf known as Walker Ridge 469, about 172 miles south of Port Fourchon, La. The deceased worked for Spencer Ogden Ltd. and was participating in pipe handling operations at the time of his injury.

Flexlife, an oil and gas industry specialist in subsea integrity and project management, has been successfully contracted by Petrobras America Inc. (PAI), a subsidiary of Petrobras, an integrated energy company that operates in 29 countries, to provide independent assessment services worth up to £862,000/$1.4 million for a project in the Gulf of Mexico. The agreement involves annulus testing of the flexible risers on the Cascade and Chinook subsea development. The initial week long testing program will occur at the end of October and then regularly every six months as instructed by PAI…

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) announced today that the bureau has completed the first unannounced spill drill to test the new requirements of sub-sea containment capabilities for deepwater wells. Led by BOEMRE, the table-top drill, which took place last week, was a joint exercise with the U.S. Coast Guard, the State of Louisiana, and Petrobras America, Inc. The preliminary results of the drill were positive; a final evaluation will follow when analysis of all documentation is completed. “We are using many diverse methods, techniques and tools to ensure that oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf are being conducted in the safest and most environmentally-responsible manner,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich.

BMT Scientific Marine Services (BMT) was contracted by Petrobras America Inc., a subsidiary of Petrobras, to provide support maintenance and repair for the Cascade and Chinook Free Standing Hybrid Riser Tower (FSHR) Monitoring System. This agreement includes five years of operation to support maintenance and repair of the FSHR monitoring system, including equipment replacement, change-out of batteries, repair of equipment, preventative maintenance, equipment refurbishment, freight and transport. The monitoring system was originally supplied by BMT with subsea installation completed in 2010.

The next MTS Houston Section luncheon will be held on April 28, 2011 and will feature a presentation by Carlos Ferraz Mastrangelo with Petrobras America. Mr. Mastrangelo will be discussing Petrobras’s decision to use a shuttle-tanker for its oil export system at the Cascade and Chinook developments. While the combination of shuttle-tanker and FPSO is common in the North Sea, Brazil and other parts of the world, it is a first in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Despite the impressive pipeline infrastructure currently available in the U.S. Gulf, none of it reaches as far as the location of the Cascade and Chinook fields, at 160 miles south of the Louisiana coast, in the deep waters of the Walker Ridge quadrant.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today provided the final approval necessary for Petrobras America, Inc. to begin oil and natural gas production at its Chinook-Cascade project using a Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) facility. This will be the first time this technology is used in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. BOEMRE approved the project’s Production Safety System permit and Supplemental Deepwater Operating Plan (DWOP), to ensure that stringent safety regulations were met.

Technip USA, supported by its contractor Jumbo Offshore have completed the installation of five free standing hybrid risers (FSHR’s) for the Petrobras America Inc. Cascade & Chinook ultra-deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico. Transportation of the five buoyancy cans was handled by Jumbo’s Fairplayer. Installation, lead by Technip, was engineered and executed in smooth and successful collaboration. Technip’s construction vessels Deep Blue and Deep Pioneer, together with the Fairplayer, installed the buoyancy cans and risers in winter conditions and with zero HSE recordable.

Keppel Shipyard Limited (Keppel Shipyard) is on track to deliver the first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM) to BW Pioneer Ltd, an affiliate of BW Offshore. Named on Oct. 26 at Keppel Shipyard, the vessel BW Pioneer will be turret moored at a water depth of about 2,600 metres – by far the deepest for an FPSO. The FPSO, which is nearing completion, has achieved an impressive safety record of more than four million incident-free man-hours to-date. BW Pioneer has been leased by Petrobras America Inc.

Veolia ES lndustrial Services’ (VES) Marine Offshore Division announced it has signed a contract with Petrobras America, a subsidiary of Petrobras (NYSE: PBR/PBRA), to provide marine services in the Gulf of Mexico. The Viking Poseidon, one of VES’ deepwater marine vessels, will be deployed for work on Petrobras’ Chinook/Cascade subsea development, one of the deepest Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facilities in the world. The vessel will support new field development for phase one of Petrobras’s FPSO. Mike Rose, President and CEO of Veolia ES Industrial Services, stated that this contract award is a direct result of the extremely dedicated and talented team within the marine group.

BMT Scientific Marine Services Inc., a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has developed a sensor assembly and installation tool that permits strain sensors to be installed on an underwater pipeline using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Known as a Subsea Strain Sensor Assembly (SSSA), it is attached to a pipeline or riser in depths of up to 10,000 ft below sea level. Once secured onto the pipe, the sensor assembly measures static and dynamic tensile and bending strain and alerts offshore operators if the pipe is likely to be strained excessively or to suffer fatigue damage in future.

This double hulled, environmentally friendly tanker, which will be fitted with additional equipment to increase maneuverability, can receive oil from Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels and transport it from deepwater areas without pipeline access to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Aker American Shipping President, Rob Kurz stated, "This is a very significant milestone for Aker American Shipping. Shuttle tankers represent an exciting new market and we are looking forward to opportunities to own more of these vessels. With the increasing demand for oil, and considerable resources in the Gulf of Mexico, this tanker will be an important part of the United States‘ energy infrastructure.

Petrobras announced the discovery of oil and gas in ultra-deep waters in the Central Gulf of Mexico, in the U.S., via its Petrobras America Inc. subsidiary, based in Houston, Texas. The discovery was made via the Stones # 3 well, drilled to perform the exploratory assessment of the Stones discovery, which is operated by Shell and located in Block WR 508, in ultra-deep Walker Ridge Quadrant waters. Petrobras America Inc. holds a 25% stake there. The remaining partners, in addition to Shell (35%), are Marathon and ENI, with 25%, and 15%, respectively. The Stones # 3 well is located at a depth of 2,286 meters from the water line and reached a total depth of 8,960 meters under the sea bed, finding oil in multiple reservoirs.

Subsea 7 Inc announced today that it has been awarded a contract by Petrobras America, a subsidiary of Petrobras for installation works in the deepwater Cascade & Chinook fields in the Gulf of Mexico. The contract is valued at $50 million. Subsea 7 will engineer and install 229658 ft. of power cables and control umbilicals and fabricate and install 16 jumpers in the Cascade & Chinook fields, located at Block 425 of Walter Ridge area in water depths ranging from 7545 ft.-9842 ft. Work will commence immediately with the Project Management and Engineering team located in Subsea 7’s offices in Houston. Fabrication of the jumpers will be carried out at Subsea 7’s logistic base in Mobile, Alabama.

Overseas Shipholding Group Inc., a global energy transportation services company, has signed a definitive agreement to charter two 46,000 dwt Jones Act tankers to Petrobras America Inc., marking the first U.S. Petrobras America is a unit of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., the 12th largest oil company in the world. OSG will provide shuttle tanker services from a floating production storage and offloading facility in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico. OSG reported it will convert to shuttle tankers two of the 12 product tankers it has ordered from Aker Philadelphia Shipyard. The company expects to deliver the converted shuttle tankers to Petrobras in the first quarters of 2010 and 2011.

Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) revealed that it has entered into a definitive agreement to charter two 46,000 dwt Jones Act tankers to Petrobras America, Inc. a unit of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PBR, PBRA). The company said that it would provide shuttle tanker services from a Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility, or FPSO. Wherever pipeline infrastructure is too costly, FPSOs and shuttle tankers are a cost-effective means of transporting offshore oil. Overseas Shipholding would convert to shuttle tankers two of the 12 product tankers that it has ordered from Aker Philadelphia Shipyard. The delivery of converted shuttle tankers to Petrobras is anticipated to occur in the first quarters of 2010 and 2011. [Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com]