Petrobras and Wood go on future-proofing mission to imbue automation, safety, and electrification optimization shots in the FPSO design arm

Brazilian state-owned energy heavyweight Petrobras has joined forces with the UK’s engineering and consulting company Wood to change and enhance the design of the traditional floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels working for the Brazilian giant to minimize the number of persons on board, curtail risks, and optimize FPSO electrification strategies to bolster performance and curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of future FPSOs that will join Petrobras’ fleet.

In a bid to support Petrobras’ future FPSO vision for the next decade, Wood will deliver concept studies with designs and recommendations to optimize performance and reduce emissions. In light of this and the current industry trends, the first study will explore design concepts of FPSO units with lower human exposure to risk and increased operational reliability to evaluate this concept for the entire unit and its practical application in one of the plant modules.

Furthermore, the second study will look into design concepts to convert the current Petrobras reference design into an FPSO without main electricity generation on the unit, as an external power source, such as offshore power generation hubs or integrated with the onshore system, electrification design will eliminate the biggest source of emissions onboard the traditional design.

John Day, President of Oil, Gas and New Energies at Wood, commented: “These studies developed cooperatively between Wood and Petrobras will consider the use of innovative solutions that target concepts, definitions and specifications still unexplored or not adopted in conventional FPSO projects.

“Research and design projects in traditional hydrocarbon extraction will be critical to achieving net zero emission goals. Wood was selected by Petrobras to partner on this project because we bring a breadth of global offshore expertise, a diverse offering of capabilities and a portfolio of partnerships with industry technology providers.”

Moreover, the project is set to be executed out of Wood’s Houston office, with local support in Rio de Janeiro, leveraging the company’s marine systems and hull offshore expertise in Sandefjord, Norway. The firm will work collaboratively with engineers, scientists, and researchers from Petrobras, mainly based at the Rio de Janeiro headquarters housing the engineering department for surface systems, responsible for all FPSO conceptual and FEED designs.

In addition, it serves as the home of the Petrobras Cenpes Research Center, which is said to be the largest oil research hub in the southern hemisphere. This deal comes nearly five months after the Brazilian giant disclosed plans to deploy 14 new FPSO vessels over the next five years.

Since the company is keen on curbing its emissions, the new FPSOs and solutions are expected to feature decarbonization tools and technologies to enable the firm to reach its net zero goals, which is aligned with the firm’s ‘Strategic Plan 2024-2028‘ spotlighting its intention to dish out $102 billion over the next five years, with $11.5 billion earmarked for projects propelling its decarbonization agenda forward. 

Keeping in mind that orders for ten out of the 14 FPSOs on the agenda to be online by 2028 have already been contracted while the demand for underwater systems required to connect the units keeps growing, Petrobras expects suppliers to be capable of offering and implementing solutions aligned with its decarbonization targets to meet the demand.

Regarding the remaining four units of the 14 planned, the FPSOs for Albacora and Barracuda in the Campos Basin are being contracted, including two units for the Sergipe-Alagoas project (SEAP).  

Petrobras is also working on multiple projects outside Brazil, including two discoveries offshore Colombia that have raised the gas potential in the Guajira Offshore Basin to approximately 6 trillion cubic feet (tcf).