Brazilian oil major Petrobras is stepping up its effort to secure support tonnage next year with a big platform supply vessel (PSV) tender.
The company has launched the process as part of a strategy to contract 50 offshore support vessels (OSVs) in total for 2023, TradeWinds sister newspaper Upstream reported.
Petrobras has invited owners to submit bids on 27 October for a range of PSV sizes.
These include 3,000-dwt, 4,000-dwt and 4,500-dwt units, plus multipurpose vessels.
Shipbroker Fearnley Offshore Supply said in its latest market report that Brazil continues to demand tonnage to accommodate its ambitious growth plans.
Norwegian players in particular are understandably becoming increasingly focused on the region, with companies such as DOF Group and Solstad Offshore having a strong presence in Brazil.
There has been a clear trend of OSV tonnage exiting the North Sea for other continents.
“We expect both Brazil and West Africa to remain hot spots for quality tonnage due to their ambitions to increase production capacity and the deepwater characteristics,” Fearnleys said.
The broker believes Petrobras’ total of up to 50 charters for next year will involve half the vessels being controlled by international owners.
Oslo-listed Reach Subsea recently reported a NOK 200m ($18.6m) contract for support vessels and remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) for the 2023 season in Brazil.
And DOF revealed new three-year Petrobras charters worth $253m for three of its vessels.
Sapura also secured work in the region, confirming an award for subsea construction for the Atlanta field development. The contract was estimated at $150m and the first oil is expected in 2024.
