Petrobras Approach to FPSO Cost Reduction

摘要

The standardization process was initiated nearly a decade ago under a thriving scene of the oil industry.rnAt that time, Petrobras had already had a long experience designing, contracting and participating inrnoffshore production units. This vast experience showed that eventual optimization obtained with tailorrnmade solutions tended to lose attractivity, regarding schedules and costs, when compared with identicalrnprojects. This perception motivated a movement towards standardization and a radical change in designrnphilosophy. This initiative has proven to be applicable to a wide range of crudes and several units havernbeen contracted since. The first standardized projects developed by Petrobras, were the P-58 and P-62rnFPSOs, two similar units to operate at Baleia Azul and Roncador fields, respectively. These units arernoperating with very good results. Since then, eight u0002Replicantsu0002 were contracted to Brazilian shipyards andrnthe first unit should be producing next year.rnDespite the success of standardization, in current scenario of cost reduction, incrementing the capacityrnof new FPSO units is a major option to be evaluated. In this context, this paper will present Petrobrasrnstrategy towards EPC of its FPSOs and how cost reduction is planned. Future trends will also be discussed.