Brazil’s Estaleiro Brasa shipyard expects to have to dismiss more than half of its workers by the end of February, at a point when topsides integration on board the Cidade de Saquarema floating production, storage and offloading vessel will be approaching its conclusion.
The FPSO arrived in Brazilian waters in November 2015 and safely berthed at the Brasa quayside on 20 December, just one day after sister vessel Cidade de Marica left the yard and departed to its future location at the Lula Alto pre-salt field in the Santos basin.
Integration work on the Cidade de Saquarema is at full speed, with Brasa in charge of the final module lifting campaign with the Pelicano crane, which is capable of lifting loads of up to 2050 tonnes.
In total, Brasa will install the last six topsides modules for Cidade de Saquarema — all built at the shipyard — and is expected to complete commissioning of the vessel in about four months, at around April.
Brasa currently employs approximately 1700 workers on the Cidade de Saquarema, but the lack of future contracts will leave the management with no alternative other than to carry out some layoffs.
“This is most unfortunate, because we are like a family here and we are very proud of our entire workforce. However, we expect some 900 people will be laid off in February,” said Brasa executive manager Ivan Fonseca.
Brasa is trying to diversify its business activities in order to cope with the downturn in the Brazilian oil and gas industry, especially after Petrobras and several contractors became embroiled in the wide-ranging corruption scandal investigated by the Operation Car Wash.
“We are aware that after Cidade de Saquarema there will be no more FPSO topsides integration on the horizon, so we are trying to focus on logistics and offshore maintenance to stay afloat,” Fonseca told Upstream.
Fonseca did not rule out further layoffs at Brasa once the Cidade de Saquarema FPSO is completed and delivered to Petrobras.
Petrobras is due to receive commercial proposals on 11 February for the charter of two large FPSOs to serve the Sepia and Libra pre-salt developments, which may inject new life into the market.
Brasa is a 50:50 joint venture between SBM Offshore and the Synergy Group, and while the Dutch floater specialist has been invited by Petrobras to bid for both units, the potential award of new contracts remains conditional upon the conclusion of a settlement agreement between the company and Brazilian authorities.
“Negotiations with authorities are progressing well. There is dedication from both sides to solve this problem as fast as possible,” said Oliver Kassam, SBM Offshore managing director in Brazil.
SBM had been suspended from Petrobras tenders due to long delays in settling potential liabilities for practices exposed by a whistleblower in 2013.
Witness testimonies, including a plea-bargaining statement by former Petrobras executive manager Pedro Barusco, have suggested that about $250 million worth of bribes were paid on SBM charters to Petrobras between 2007 and 2011.
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