SBM Offshore gets carbon capture modular solution study for FPSOs on Petrobras’ oil & gas assets

Netherlands-based SBM Offshore, a provider of the design, construction, installation, and operation of offshore floating facilities, has been tasked with a study encapsulating the design and the commercial evaluation of various carbon capture systems’ configurations to be installed on future floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units deployed on oil and gas fields operated by Brazil’s energy giant Petrobras.

Given its plans to curtail overall emissions associated with the FPSO oil and gas production, Petrobras has picked SBM Offshore for a study looking into the application of carbon capture modules on FPSOs, based on an engineering and design study between the Dutch firm and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), qualified by DNV.

The modular solution, which uses a combination of MHI’s proprietary CO2 capture technology and SBM Offshore’s Fast4Ward principles, is part of the Netherlands-based company’s wider emissionZERO program, allowing a significant reduction of the overall emissions associated with the production of oil and gas from FPSOs.

Olivier Icyk, Chief Business Officer at SBM Offshore, commented: “The signature of this study demonstrates the trust that Petrobras has in SBM Offshore as an ocean infrastructure pioneer. We continue to work towards decarbonization solutions in the design of our products and in our offshore operations. Through this study, we will be able to advance the carbon capture module design jointly with our partner MHI for CO2 reduction on future FPSOs.”

According to SBM Offshore, the scope of the study encompasses the design and commercial assessment of multiple carbon capture models for deployment on future FPSOs working on Petrobras’ fields, such as various turbine types and machinery setup, gas flow rates and gas turbine power installed, and CO2 concentrations and gas composition.

On a quest to deliver cleaner energy production, supported by its years-long pursuit of a near-zero FPSO, the Dutch firm is progressing its zero-emission concept to have a solution ready for the market in 2025. SBM Offshore anticipates around 40 FPSO opportunities to spring up during the next three years, with 16 of those within its target domain.

Recently, the Netherlands-based giant got a stake in Ocean-Power, which enables it to access the application of its carbon capture expertise in the power market to support low-carbon electricity generation.

Shortly after starting the construction phase of a disconnectable turret mooring (DTM) for a floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit, one of SBM Offshore’s FPSOs began oil production at a field in Brazil’s pre-salt Santos Basin.