Veolia Contracts with Petrobras

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.  “In a few short years, we have grown from a small Great Lakes diving group into a full service Inspection Maintenance and Repair (IMR) provider for our Gulf of Mexico customers.  This contract will allow us to increase our services and support our strategic growth plans.”

The one-year contract includes a substantial amount of subsea engineering and project management across four in-field campaigns. While in the field the Viking Poseidon will provide offshore construction and installation, including flying leads and jumper installations, work that is critical path prior to production of the first hydrocarbons from the field.  Engineering and pre-field work has already begun and the Viking Poseidon will enter the field on September 15, 2009, to begin the first campaign.

Petrobras's Cascade and Chinook FPSO facility will accept production from the two fields. According to Petrobras, the schedule calls for installation of the FPSO early in 2010. The FPSO will be located in approximately 2,600m of water, will be the first in the US Gulf of Mexico and will be the world's deepest FPSO to date.

The Poseidon is the largest Ulstein X-Bow vessel in the world. It was built by Ulstein Verft for Eidesvik Offshore in Norway during 2008. It is a 130-meter-long, 25-meter wide vessel with a deck area of 1720-square meters. Its advanced features, which allow it to deploy heavier loads and operate further offshore, include two 150HP XLX Perry work class ROVs and a HMC-250T active heave compensated knuckle boom crane.