Editor's Note

Brazil takes center stage of this edition of Marine Technology Reporter, our Annual Offshore edition.While many of you are already active or actively pursuing opportunities in Brazil’s subsea business, the country remains a conundrum for many, as the process to establish a business there is often long, arduous and expensive. Here and around the world, the offshore energy business has been a major driver of the world economic recovery. To help put things in perspective I share with you an exclusive report authored by Jim McCaul of IMA. For those of you not familiar with McCaul’s work in this sector, he is an offshore Floating Production System guru of sorts, producing his Floating Production System Report for more than 15 years. You can read the full story starting on page 22, or for those in need of the full-style 226-page report, you can Email McCaul at [email protected]. But there are several key takeaways:

- 40%: IMA forecasts the Floating Production System Sector will grow 40% between 2013 and 2017, a projected need of 124 to 190 additional production floaters in this time-frame.

- 77: The number of production floaters on order, which is an all-time high.

- 55: Brazil is the largest location in terms of floating production systems in operation with 55, including 35 FPSOs, 18 production semis and two FSRUs.

That last factoid is a perfect segue to a pair of articles in this edition from Claudio Paschoa, MTR’s contributing editor located in Rio de Janeiro.  This month Paschoa takes MTR on a stroll through the hallways and research labs of CENPES, which is Petrobras’ in-house R&D center, home to 238 PhD researchers, 496 MSc researchers and nearly 1,900 employees throughout 227 laboratories. As Petrobras is the driver to Brazil’s offshore oil and gas business, CENPES is a driver of Petrobras’ massive investment in the technologies to ensure efficient and safe production. Paschoa’s second story is a shift in gears, from a global corporate behemoth (Petrobras) to ATIVA, a small, five-person subsea solutions company founded in 2006. In reading the story I think that many MTR readers will relate, as it is the story of two innovative people with an innovative idea, that have invested, grown the business and are now looking for additional investment to grow further faster. As partnering with a local company is often the quickest means to penetrate the Brazilian market, perhaps one or more of you will find yourself intrigued by the ATIVA story.

Gregory R. Trauthwein, Associate Publisher & Editor of Marine Technology Reporter.
Email: [email protected]

(As published in the April2013 edition of Marine Technologies - www.seadiscovery.com)