The initiative to produce boats and modules in the country is reminiscent of the technological partners policy launched during the second Lula government; the state company says the format will be different, with a more limited role for Petrobras
HOUSTON-A Petrobras organized Tuesday evening, 7, a first round of conversations between executives of domestic and foreign shipyards to facilitate partnerships and increase the construction of parts of platform vessels (FPSOs) and other entire vessels in Brazil. The idea is that these companies continue to visit each other and organize technical visits that end in effective business in Brazil.
The meeting took place in Houston, IN WE, in parallel with the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). Executives of the state-owned company, such as the Director of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Carlos Travassos, presented Petrobras’ future application and invited representatives of domestic and foreign companies from South Korea, Singapore, China, India, Japan, Norway and United Arab Emirates.
On the Brazilian side, the Station/Broadcast, were Andrade Gutierrez, Bravante, CBO, EBR, ECB, Ecovix, Enseada, EAS, Mauá, Edson Chouest, Mac Laren, Ocean Pact, OSX, Porto do Açu, São Jacinto and Triunfo. Foreigners include Samsung, CIMC Raffles, Saipem, Dubai Drydocks, Cosco, Shapoorji, SBM, Modec, BW Offshore, Yinson, CNOOC, Hanwha, Ocyan and Seatrium.
In total, 16 national companies and another 14 foreign companies participated in the meeting. The initiative is part of the second phase of mapping work conducted by the Brazilian Petroleum Institute (IBP), which has identified 48 shipyards in the country, of which 15 are decommissioned.
Behind the movement is what the president of the state company says, Jean Paul Pratesdefines it as the need to increase the “level of localization” of the maritime sector, but which can be read as an increase in good old local content.
“This is an unprecedented experience for the Brazilian industry in terms of localization, which is bringing service or construction activities to its territory, creating a healthy environment for investments in Brazil. It is not a thing of the past, many countries are doing it right now, like the Arab countries and the Far East, who do it directly,” Prates defended to journalists.
“If we kept punching each other like a knife, ‘us here and them there,’ we wouldn’t get anywhere. We created a methodology with the IBP, which started with a mapping of the shipyards and the second thing was to create an opportunity to provoke “clashes” between Brazilian shipyards and foreign investors”, he continued.
Skeptical market
Investors are skeptical about increasing local content in Petrobras’ offering because they fear rising costs. They are against, for example, minimum percentages imposed by the government on oil and gas contracts.
But Prates argues that, in addition to employment, income and technology, so pursued by developmentalist governments such as those of the PT, it is necessary to bring the supply chain closer to the state one for a clear strategic reason after the covid-19 pandemic emergency and, subsequently , war in Ukraine, which led to a supply-side shock in global chains.
Petrobras has already announced to the market that it will launch tenders between this year and 2025 for the charter of 38 offshore support vessels to be built in the country and that it has a plan to charter around 200 vessels. The package will require investments of around $2.5 billion by 2030.
During the meeting, Travassos said, not only was the future demand for support vessels, which cost between $60 and $70 million each, but also the demand for platform modules presented.
Balance
Travassos therefore promises balance in an attempt to stimulate the Brazilian industry that supplies Petrobras. He himself stated that there is no need to increase the demand for local content in contracts and that, of course, its percentage in naval projects will vary between 40% and 70%.
“There is a difference compared to what happened before. We are taking great care to present the application very carefully and I notice a greater maturity of the Brazilian shipyards. In the past everyone was guided (if I trusted you) on the issue of local content. Today everyone is aware that to have a development ramp, infrastructure, job development and balanced demand are needed”, said the director.
He highlighted, for example, that Petrobras is the largest demander of flexible pipes in the world, purchasing 66% of global production, and recalled that the Brazilian industry is fully committed on this front.
“This shows the importance of having the chains close to us. We are not talking about building an FPSO (Mobile storage and transfer unit) entire country in Brazil. No country in the world does this, but when we develop the industry, we bring the ship parts industry into our backyard. This is a strategic business vision for Petrobras,” she concluded.
More limited role
The initiative to bring the production of boats and modules to Brazil is reminiscent of the technology partners policy launched during the second Lula government, but will have a completely different format, with a more limited role for the state company, its director of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Carlos Travassos.
During the OTC, Travassos told reporters that Petrobras will maintain current percentages of local content in contracts and use them as a starting point to attract foreign companies with clear communication of “robust and perennial” demand, which he defines as the portfolio largest platform vessel projects in the world. There are 14 new units to be incorporated by 2028, in addition to another seven ships that are under study for the period between 2029 and 2032.
In the past, to participate in tenders, Brazilian companies had to have a foreign technology partner as a partner to transfer technology and build shipyards from scratch. After a few years, “divorces” between companies forced to marry and cases of corruption multiplied. Now, in this renewed exchange to reactivate the sector, the format of the business relationship is free, as long as the project meets the local content requirements.
“The movement is completely different from the initiative carried out in the past, when there was a technological partnership and foreigners brought technology to Brazilian shipyards. This works well to develop infrastructure. Of course, the revival of a complex industry, which requires labor and capital, as is the naval industry, requires much more. The recovery of the sector implies a process of building competitiveness and perennial demand,” says Travassos.
“We submitted Petrobras’ guaranteed demand and let the shipyards speak. Petrobras has a demand and will place ship orders according to its needs. There is no point in going any further in this inducer role,” he continued.
According to the director, Petrobras’ initiative is to build a business strategy, which brings together a “huge” portfolio, technological challenges of more complex projects, local content rules, as well as financial restrictions and supply chain stress to resolve. “We have to find a way to deal with this,” says the director.
Travassos guaranteed that Petrobras will not compromise on the level of local content, a percentage that varies from project to project, but stressed that the complexity of fields has grown, forcing the construction of larger FPSOs.
«In the past we talked about 50% local content. But we had a 17,000-ton topside (the part that goes above the hull) at the beginning of the 2000s. Let’s imagine that we were talking about 50% local content. Now a topside reaches 60 thousand tons, which is what the P84 and P85 each have. So if I’m talking about 40%, 30% of this product in the country, I’m talking about many more components (in absolute numbers) than in the past, the steel being processed,” she said.
Contributing to economic activity, attracting suppliers to produce in Brazil in partnership would meet a strategic need for Petrobras, which faces difficulties in renting equipment, for example, for the Sergipe-Águas Profundas (two FPSO) and Albacora (one FPSO) projects . .
The journalist traveled at the invitation of Petrobras
Source: Terra
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