Brazil is to create a centre of excellence for its shipbuilding industry and it is Petrobras which is the driving force behind the idea as the company needs literally hundreds of new offshore support vessels, plus a significant number of floating production units and drilling rigs for deepwater operations.
Paulo Sergio Rodrigues Alonso, a local content specialist at the semi-state oil company said at an event during the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston last month: “NASA’s slogan is well-fitting in this situation ‘Failure is not an option’. We are working with the shipyards so that we can meet the demand and stay on track with the schedule defined in our business plan . . . they cannot fail.
“There are many challenges in achieving a benchmark in the shipbuilding industry, and partnerships with international companies and universities are absolutely essential,” he told his audience.
Petrobras is a stickler for local content which, according to Alonso, currently sits in the 55-65% range for exploration and production operations. The rest is overseas content.
“We understand that the association with international companies is the best solution for technological bottlenecks, in addition to working in partnership with universities to achieve long-term results,” said Alonso.
“All Petrobras contracts are based on international standards, so we know the cost of the equipment and services within the project.”
Focusing on local content policy, the so-called Prominp (National Mobilisation Program of the Petroleum Industry), Alonso said: “While oil and gas production continues to grow with the development of the pre-salt, investment opportunities and partnerships in the sector will continue to grow for investors in the entire oil supply chain.
“Due to the operations in the pre-salt and the magnitude of our business plan, perspectives and specifics of deepwater exploration, we cannot use off-the-shelf equipment, we need to develop technology and equipment to meet this demand.”
He added that international companies interested in establishing themselves in Brazil were welcome and would work in partnership with Brazilian companies, or “even by themselves”.
Over the past five years, more than $240billion has been invested in Petrobras’ operations, with hundreds of billions more dollars worth of investment in the pipeline.