Aker Solutions has started the construction of a new engineering manufacturing plant in Paraná that will double the company’s subsea production capacity in Brazil.
Trigger to the investment is a huge contract awarded to the Norwegian company by semi-state-owned Petrobras.
The $800million contract was announced in April and covers the manufacture of 60 well-sets with vertical subsea trees, subsea control systems, tools and spares to be used at Petrobras’ deepwater pre-salt field developments in Brazil.
The new plant in the city of São José dos Pinhais in the Paraná state in Brazil will be operational in 2015. It will replace Aker Solutions’ current subsea manufacturing facility in Curitiba and double production capacity in the country.
Once completed, expectation is that Aker Solutions will employ 1,200 at the 168,220sq.m site, plus the company says the project will create work for a further 5,000 people at suppliers.
This is not the only investment by the company in Brazilian manufacturing as, last year, it embarked on the construction of a multi-purpose service site for its drilling equipment business in Macae, which is a major offshore services hub located 180 km north-east of Rio de Janeiro.
The facility, set to open next year, will expand the company’s capacity to serve the fast-growing drilling market in Brazil.
Aker Solutions, established in Brazil since 1978, currently employs 1,400 people in the country. It is a leading provider of subsea equipment and services in Brazil’s offshore pre-salt market. It also delivers downstream and topside process technology, offshore mooring and loading systems, deepwater drilling systems and subsea intervention services.
Norwegian companies are doing particularly well out of the fast-growing Brazilian market, notably on the subsea front, plus the construction of new drilling rigs tailored to the huge exploration, appraisal and development drilling programme mapped out by Petrobras for at least the next decade.
For its part, Aker Solutions has also provided the designs for three semi-submersible floating production units
In 2001/2003, the company carried out the front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the P-51 and P-52 platforms, including the hull and deck-box design, specification and design of hull systems, wave tank and wind tunnel test, as well as class approval (DNV).
The P-51 is located at the Marlim Sul field development and tethered in 1,255m water depth. It produces 180,000 barrels of oil and 7.2million cu.m of gas per day.
The P-52 is located in the Roncador field and moored in 1,800m of water. It can deliver up to 180,000 barrels and 9.3million cu.m per day.
In 2007, Petrobras selected Aker Solutions’ design for the hull of the P-56 unit. It is a copy of the P-51.
Further, last year the group secured an order to supply six drilling equipment packages to Jurong Shipyard in Singapore to Brazilian account. That contract included an option for an additional drilling package, which has since been exercised. The contract includes complete topside and subsea equipment (drilling riser and blow-out preventer).
Recommended for you
