Equinor acquires equipment for Brazil gas block

TechnipFMC and MODEC will supply Norwegian oil company Equinor with operational equipment and a floating production and storage offloading (FPSO) unit for its newly-announced giant offshore natural gas BM-C-33 block in Brazil.

Equinor - in partnership with Brazil's state-controlled Petrobras and Spanish-Chinese joint venture Respol-Sinopec - cleared the way for roughly $9bn in investments in the offshore natural gas BM-C-33 block this week.

TechnipFMC will supply the subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) scope, and MODEC will supply the FPSO. Both companies are responsible for supplying similar structures to other oil and gas fields in Brazil.

The FPSO contract was signed as a turnkey project and includes engineering, acquisitions, construction and installation for the entire unit. Delivery is estimated for 2027, according to Equinor. MODEC will also provide operational and maintenance services for Equinor in the first year of operation.

The SURF equipment will be installed approximately 2,900m (1.8 miles) below the surface of the sea, the deepest ever operated by Equinor.

The block will produce roughly 16mn m³/d and export 14mn m³/d of gas starting in 2028.

BM-C-33 is one of several offshore gas developments in pre-salt blocks expected to increase Brazil's supply over the next five years. Petrobras' GasLub gas-processing unit will increase domestic gas supplies from pre-salt fields by roughly 18mn m³/d in 2024 when it begins operating.

By Flávia Pierry