Floater expert Modec has been very active on the FPSO front over the last month or so. It has only been days since it won a contract to develop an FPSO vessel for ExxonMobil’s Hammerhead project in Guyana, and around a month since it signed a purchase and sales agreement for the Gato do Mato FPSO with Shell.
Now, the company has signed a contract with compatriot Sumitomo Heavy Industries under which the shipyard will construct the forward block on the hull for the Gato do Mato FPSO.
Soichi Ide, Modec’s group head of project execution and chief digital officer, said that this collaboration enabled a unique construction methodology that addressed the constraints in the availability of new building dock slots.
When completed and installed, the FPSO will be capable of producing 120,000 bopd as well as associated gas and water. It will be moored at a water depth of approximately 2,000m, around 200 km South of Rio de Janeiro.
The FPSO will feature a new custom-made next-generation hull to meet the 25-year design life. This will be the 19th FPSO to be developed by Modec for Brazil. It will be the second unit to be delivered directly to Shell by the Japanese firm for operation in Brazil.
On top of the purchase and sales deal, Shell and Modec signed a 20-year contract for the operations and maintenance of the FPSO.
The Gato do Mato consortium includes operator Shell with a 50% stake and its partners Ecopetrol and TotalEnergies, which hold 30% and 20% stakes, respectively. Pré-Sal Petróleo is acting as the manager of the production sharing contract.
