FPSO Cidade de Illhabela(artist impression)

There was a buzz at BRASA as it celebrated the arrival of FPSO Cidade de Maricá. The SBM Offshore vessel berthed safely at the Niteroi-Rio based yard on 9 July 2015. She had arrived in Brazilian waters mid-June, following her 10,625 Nm (19,678 Km) voyage from China.

FPSO Cidade de Maricá is one of two carbon-copy FPSOs being constructed from the blueprint for FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela, the mother ship, which sailed from Brasa to commence production in November 2014. The FPSO is the deepest in SBM’s operating fleet at 2,140m and has the largest capacity at 150,000 bpd of oil.

Just returned from an onboard visit to FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela, SBM Offshore Chief Operating Officer Philippe Barril commented: “We are happy with the progress to date on Maricá and we look forward to the delivery of the FPSO to our client once the BRASA scope is completed. We expect her to follow in the footsteps of her mother ship FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela, which has been successfully producing offshore Brazil for eight months and is an example of the world-class standards to which SBM aspires. All our teams are working hard to achieve our delivery target for Maricá, the third pre-salt FPSO in the series of four that SBM is providing to Petrobras.”

Project Director John Perkins says “The arrival of FPSO Cidade de Maricá to BRASA represents a newsworthy milestone for SBM Offshore and a further step on the road to delivery. It demonstrates SBM’s effective global project management for her conversion, which is being jointly conducted from our Regional Centres in Holland, Monaco and Brazil. As a joint venture partner with Synergy in BRASA shipyard, SBM is very proud to welcome her to the quayside for the final integration of her modules.”

Conversion work on the hull and some module integration was completed in China before she set sail in April 2015 for Brazil. Cidade de Maricá is the second FPSO to moor and be integrated at BRASA shipyard since it opened in 2012.

Project Manager Martijn Kleijn says “Integration of the hull and topsides will take place at BRASA where some of the modules have also been fabricated. The yard is ready to begin the module lifting phase using the yard’s Pelicano-1 barge crane. Additional modules were constructed and delivered by EBSE, a Rio yard that SBM works closely with as part of its development of local content solutions.”

Tags: SBM Offshore N.V.