SBM Offshore secures $1.6 billion financing for Brazil-bound FPSO
SBM Offshore has signed the project financing totalling $1.615 billion for the Alexandre de Gusmao floating production, storage and offloading vessel destined for Petrobras’ Mero field offshore Brazil.
Floater specialist SBM on Tuesday confirmed the project financing is provided by a consortium of 12 international banks with insurance cover from three international Export Credit Agencies (ECA). The financing is composed of four separate facilities with an approximate 6.6% weighted average cost of debt and a 14-year post-completion maturity for both the ECA covered facilities and the uncovered facility.
The Alexandre de Gusmao FPSO’s design incorporates SBM’s Fast4Ward newbuild multi-purpose hull. The floater will have processing capacity of 180,000 barrels per day of oil and 12 million cubic metres per day of gas. SBM added the estimated greenhouse gas emissions intensity would be within the range of eight to 12 kilograms of CO2equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent for its newbuild FPSOs as they would benefit from proprietary emission reduction technologies.
The Alexandre de Gusmao is owned and operated by special purpose companies owned by affiliated companies of SBM Offshore (55%) and its partners (45%).
The FPSO is set to be the fourth to be deployed at Petrobras’ unitised Mero field located in the Santos basin approximately 160 kilometres offshore Rio de Janeiro, under a 22.5-year lease and operate contract. First oil via the Alexandre de Gusmao is scheduled for 2025.
Partners in Mero are operator Petrobras, Shell, TotalEnergies, CNPC, CNOOC and Pre-sal Petroleo.