Brazilian oil company Petrobras is set to hold a tender for a new production vessel for the country's pre-salt Buzios field in "the next few months," the state-run firm told Reuters on Tuesday.
Reuters reported earlier in the day, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the tender would become public in 60 days.
The new vessel will have a production capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day and will be able to ship 5.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to land, Petrobras said.
The vessel will receive, process and ship gas from another vessel, P-82, that also operates in the Buzios field, said Petrobras.
P-82, which currently reinjects all the gas it produces back into the reservoir, will be able to ship part of its production to land, said Petrobras.
The new vessel will also be able to handle part of the gas production from other vessels, said Petrobras.
The tender for the FPSO is set to follow the build-operate-transfer commissioning model, sources told Reuters, in which the firm that builds the vessel operates it for a set number of years and then transfers ownership to Petrobras.
Boosting gas production is a priority for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who wants to bring prices down to boost industry.
According to studies, the vessel in the future could also treat gas from other fields besides Buzios, said a source.
(Reuters - Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Writing by Fabio Teixeira; Editing by Kylie Madry)