Claudio Paschoa News

With the ongoing development of deepwater pre-salt plays and a decreased demand on local content in tankers and other vessels, Brazilian national operator Petrobras and other super-majors have been looking abroad for better rates and reliable operators of shuttle tankers. Claudio Paschoa, Maritime Reporter’s correspondent in Brazil spoke to Peter Liew, Global Director – Mid Size Tankers, Crude Shipping, about AET Tankers’ history and its operations in Brazil.AET (formerly American Eagle Tankers) was founded in Houston in 1994 primarily to conduct lightering operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The company’s fleet grew to 32 vessels (mainly Aframax tankers but also two VLCCs) by 2003, when acquired by MISC Berhad.

Logistics hubs and Fast Supply Vessels will be key assets in the complex offshore transport solution Petrobras has devised for moving workers and goods, to and from Brazil’s remote pre-salt plays. Here is a look at a modern local shipyards building the heavy-duty aluminum vessels, with overall lengths ranging from over 30 meters to around 50 meters. Claudio Paschoa, Maritime Reporter’s correspondent in Brazil spoke to Flavio Santarelli, Arpoador Shipyard’s Director of Operations. The logistics involved in transporting supplies and people to the production FPSOs located as far as 300km offshore has been daunting. Offshore logistics hubs…

With most offshore wells in Brazil located between 30 and 300 km from the coast, communication with offshore assets has not always been straightforward or reliable. Some operators and service providers still use traditional maritime VSAT services for coverage offshore Brazil, yet the introduction of Microwave radio has led to a much better level of quality and reliability in high-bandwidth voice and data communications. Claudio Paschoa, Maritime Reporter’s correspondent in Brazil had an interesting conversation with Arild Fotland, head of Ceragon’s Oil and Gas Division, about the advantages of Microwave radio communications for offshore operations in Brazil. Fotland joined Ceragon in 1978 and has been stationed all over the world.

As some pre-salt plays begin production, a wide range of subsea infrastructure is being built, with O&G transportation pipeline grids being one of the vital downstream systems. Saipem has been recipient of the first major contracts to install deepwater pre-salt pipelines by national operator Petrobras. Claudio Paschoa, Maritime Reporter’s correspondent in Brazil brings us an in-depth look at Saipem’s vessels and projects in Brazil. Saipem’s pipelaying segment is part of a unified Business Unit Engineering & Construction, an entity with more than 30,000 employees from more than 100 nationalities, with more than 60 permanent establishments and numerous project execution centers worldwide, which has maintained yearly revenues exceeding $13 billion.

After spending a day exploring the sprawling Açu Superport and Industrial Complex construction site far up the northeast coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro courtesy of LLX and OSX, Claudio Paschoa, Maritime Reporter’s Contributing Editor in Brazil, flew back to Rio for a conversation with Marcus Berto, LLX’s new CEO at the EBX Group headquarters in downtown Rio de Janeiro. “This is a not simply a port belonging to LLX. This is a port for Brazil,” he said. LLX is the logistics branch of the EBX Group, the company founded in March 2007 by Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista, born eying the strong demand for modern, efficient ports in Brazil.

Danilo Souza Baptista, OSX’s Director of Naval Construction, sat with MR Contributing Editor Claudio Paschoa at EBX Group’s new HQ in downtown Rio de Janeiro, in a meeting room overlooking Guanabara Bay with Sugar Loaf Mountain as a backdrop, to discuss its ambitious yet realistic vision to create one of the largest, most efficient shipyards in the Americas, as well as its Integrated Service Solution to the meet offshore O&G needs. OSX is a relatively new company, founded by the EBX Group in 2009. The EBX Group, is a holding composed of several companies active in different industries such as mining, oil & gas, logistics, real estate, among others.

The abundance of deepwater O&G prospects, combined with the lack of oil transportation infrastructure in Brazil, has increasingly favored FPSOs as a production solution. Petrobras presently has more than 25 FPSOs in operation and this number is expected to double during the next decade. BW Offshore is a leader in FPSOs and FPSO operations. Although it has been quoting for jobs in Brazil for some years, the company finally established a local office in 2008. BW Offshore currently has three FPSOs operating in the Brazilian offshore and has another one slated to be delivered by the end of the year. The Rio de Janeiro office is headed by General Manager Jon Harald Kilde M.S.c., who shared with Maritime Reporter´s correspondent in Brazil, Claudio Paschoa, the company’s strategy and outlook.