Sumitomo joins FPSO project in Brazil

Japanese trading house Sumitomo is partnering Malaysian offshore oil services firm Yinson in owning and chartering a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for state-controlled Petrobras' Marlim II project in Brazil.

Sumitomo is taking a 25pc stake in the project, which was awarded to Yinson by Petrobras in October last year. Yinson owns the remaining stake. The partners plan to charter the FPSO for 25 years from the start of 2023 with the completion of the vessel's conversion work in Qidong, China.

The vessel will be deployed at the Marlim oil field in the Campos basin, around 130km offshore Rio de Janeiro. The FPSO will be able to process around 70,000 b/d of crude and 4mn m³/d of natural gas.

The Marlim deal continues the firms' partnership on FPSO and floating storage and offloading vessel ventures agreed in April 2018. Sumitomo and Yinson have worked together on Italian firm Eni's Offshore Cape Three Points block in Ghana since June 2017.

By Nanami Oki