Petrobras has relaunched the bid process for its Libra Pilot floating production and storage offloading vessel (FPSO), following the cancelation of the previous bid process due to “an abnormally high price.”
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Image of Libra field operations, from Petrobras. |
After receiving proposals for the project, the Brazilian giant confirmed the cancelation of the first bid process that began more than a year ago on 12 August 2015.
“[The previous bid proposal] resulted in a proposal with an abnormally high price compared to what could be expected in the international market, exceeding the expectations of Petrobras and its partners,” the company said in a statement. “This previous bid process required a local content commitment from the bidders in accordance with the production sharing contract (PSC).”
According to Petrobras, the PSC provides for the possibility of exemption from the local content requirement in such cases where commercial proposals received are higher than international market rates.
This particular exemption provision, Petrobras said, ensures that the project will be executed in a competitive manner, ensuring the investments for the development of the Libra area are efficiently effected in relation to schedule, budget, quality and safety.
As operator of the Libra consortium, Petrobras registered a local content waiver request with Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum (ANP) for the Libra Pilot FPSO on 30 August 2016, and officially began the new bid process on 16 September.
The new bid process has lower local content requirements, which optimizes the construction performed in Brazil with no impact on cost or schedule of the project, Petrobras said.
Start-up at the Libra Pilot project is anticipated in 2H 2020, however, to meet this expectation, the Libra consortium needs to hire the FPSO by Q1 2017.
In OE’s September issue, Energy Industries Council’s (EIC) Pietro Ferreira said that in July Petrobras received proposals from SBM Offshore, Modec, BW Offshore and the Bluewater and Queiroz Galvão consortium, but it was later revealed that only Modec qualified for the two contracts. Local industry sources speculate that a re-bid is likely to take place, he said.
Petrobras is the operator of the Libra consortium with 40% interest. Partners include Shell (20%), Total (20%), CNPC (10%), and CNOOC (10%), with Pré-Sal Petróleo (PPSA) serving as the manager of the PSC.
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