SBM Offshore Signs Contract To Operate FPSO Offshore Brazil

SBM Offshore NV (SBMO.AE) said Thursday that contracts for the twenty year charter and operation of FPSO Cidade de Paraty, offshore Brazil, have been executed with the BM-S-11 Consortium and added that a contract to supply BP plc (BP) with an internal turret mooring system was confirmed.

MAIN FACTS:

- The BM-S-11 consortium is 65% owned by Petrobras SA (PESA.BA), 25% by BG Group and 10% by GALP Energia.

- SBM Offshore together with Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás S.A had been awarded a Letter of Intent on 28 May 2010 for this work.

- The unit will be owned and operated by a Joint Venture of companies comprising of SBM Offshore (50.5%), QGOG (20%), Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (9101.TO) (17.5%) and Itochu Corporation (8001.TO) (12%).

- The Lula Nordeste field is located in block BM-S-11 in the Santos basin at approximately 265 kilometres offshore and 2,100 metres water depth. The FPSO will include topside facilities to process 150,000 bpd of production fluids, associated gas treatment for 5,000,000 Sm3/d with compression and carbon dioxide removal and a water injection facility for 150,000 bpd.

- SBM Offshore together with its JV partners, QGOG, NYK and ITOCHU, secured a Limited Recourse Project Loan for $1 Billion to finance the construction of the FPSO Cidade de Paraty.

- The loan will be repaid over a 10 year period starting at First Oil and benefit from a competitive pricing package arranged on a Club Deal basis with 12 International Commercial Banks.

- SBM Offshore has also received a letter from BP plc's (BP) Exploration Operating Company Ltd confirming full project sanction for the supply of an internal turret mooring system for the Quad 204 FPSO project.

- The BP contract consists of engineering, procurement and construction of an internal turret mooring system for the FPSO for the Quad 204 development.

- The BP project schedule foresees delivery of the turret in several sections to facilitate the FPSO construction sequence during the year 2013.

- By Amsterdam Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; [e-mail]