Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - brazil

The partnership between Schilling Robotics and FMC is having a very positive impact on nearly all of the fifteen projects FMC operates in Brazil.Since 1985, Schilling Robotics has been engineering, manufacturing, and delivering the highest quality subsea equipment in the subsea market. Its first small, hydraulically powered underwater remote manipulator went to market in 1986, and by 1988 Schilling had become a leading supplier of high-performance subsea remote manipulator systems used in offshore oil, telecommunications, scientific, and military operations. By 1997, Schilling had developed a suite of manipulator systems and accessories to fit a variety of needs and budgets.

With headquarters in the UK, Wellstream has invested heavily in the Brazilian O&G market since 2007 and currently has an ongoing contract with Petrobras for around 700km of flexible pipes. They are the acknowledged leaders in flexible riser manufacture in Brazil.Wellstream is a world leader in design and manufacture of flexible pipeline products, systems and solutions for fluid transportation in the O&G industry. The business, founded in 1983 is headquartered in Newcastle, UK, with manufacturing facilities in the UK, Brazil and USA. The company has over 1,000 employees worldwide and also has sales and project offices in Canada and Australia. Flexible pipe products are used in many offshore field developments, but particularly where floating production vessels are involved.

Increased investment in subsea systems instead of intensive use of rigs and FPSOs is looking to be the present and future trend in the Brazilian O&G market. Subsea system equipment manufacturers in all levels, from subsea trees to the smallest subsystem manufacturers, have a good reason to be happy with present and future business prospects in Brazil. Not only are the deepwater pre-salt plays being developed and other propective deepwater plays being drilled, but also various new post-salt shallow water fields have been recently discovered, most in the southern Campos Basin by OG X Petroleo and more recently by Petrobras, which has confirmed the potencial of its play adjacent to the Pampo field.

FMC signs an $80 million subsea service contract with Petrobras in January and is awarded a $400 million contract for subsea trees in February.FMC Technologies signed a subsea service contract with Petrobras effective through 2012 and expected to result in an additional $80 million in revenue. FMC's scope of supply includes storage, maintenance, commissioning and offshore services for subsea and topside control systems and drill pipe riser systems. "FMC has a strong and longstanding relationship with Petrobras," said John Gremp, Executive Vice President of FMC Technologies. FMC Technologies has signed a four-year subsea tree frame agreement with Petrobras.

The state of art facility in Rio das Ostras completes two years of operation with excellent results and having made a lasting contribution to the region and to regional supplier chain growth. The facility which was built in Rio das Ostras with an initial investment of around $10 million in 2007 and primarily manufactures for the Brazilian market, has also been able to deliver to other regions of the world. The facility, which has a workshop that covers a space of 2,450 square metres, offers clients services ranging from engineering and manufacturing to maintenance and technical support. The timing of the Rio das Ostras investment was…

With major contracts secured in the last two years in Brazil, Cameron is in a great position to expand its presence in the Brazilian subsea market in 2010 and beyond.After being awarded a $100 million contract for 25 subsea Xmas tress for the Campos Basin by Petrobras in 2008, (deliveries completed in late 2009), Cameron entered into a frame agreement with Petrobras in 2009, expected to be worth approximately $500 million, for the supply of subsea trees and related running tools to Petrobras for use in their developments offshore Brazil. Under the agreement, Cameron is providing 138 subsea Christmas trees, with the installation to be supported by 18 sets of running tools that are also part of the scope of supply.

The purpose of the Geoprober Drilling System (GDS) is to reduce the cost of acquiring G&G data for exploration activity in deepwater by 50%.They plan to achieve this by establishing a well in a one trip operation. This speeds up operations and improves data acquisition options and reduces the environmental impact of exploration. Geoprober Drilling was established in 2004 as a new kind of data acquisition drilling contractor, specialising in deep water exploration in areas such as West Africa, Brazil, India and the Far East. Geoprober is currently developing a deep water exploration drilling system deployed from a mono-hull vessel on a (JIP) Joint Industry Project funded by Chevron and StatoilHydro.

Knowing that new deepwater contracts in Brazil will be forthcoming in 2010, DOF Subsea invests in the new Cougar XTi ROV from Saab Seaeye to boost its already highly competitive profile.DOF Subsea, has taken delivery of an advanced design of deep-swimming ROV from Saab Seaeye, destined for Brazil. The new 3000 metre-rated Cougar XTi ROV features technological developments that open up a greater range of deep water applications. It will be permanently commissioned aboard a specially built DOF Subsea vessel, along with two hydraulic work-class vehicles. The vessel has been constructed in Norway and will operate offshore in Brazil for Light Well Intervention. The onboard Launch and Recovery System (LARS) has been built by ODIM, and includes Active Heave Compensation.