The Brazilian oil company Petrobras $PETR3 (+0,23Â %)
$PETR4 (+0,82Â %) will hold a tender for a new production vessel for the Buzios field in the country's pre-salt region in the coming months, the state-owned company told Reuters on Tuesday.
Reuters had previously reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the tender would be published in 60 days.
The new vessel will have a production capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day and will be able to transport 5.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to shore, Petrobras said.
The vessel will receive, process and ship gas from another vessel, P-82, also working in the Buzios field, Petrobras said.
P-82, which currently injects all the gas it produces back into the reservoir, will be able to transport some of its production onshore, according to Petrobras.
The new vessel will also be able to take over some of the gas production from other vessels, Petrobras said.
The tender for the FPSO will follow the build-operate-transfer-commissioning model, sources told Reuters, in which the company building the vessel will operate it for a certain number of years and then transfer ownership to Petrobras.
Increasing gas production is a priority of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who wants to lower prices to boost the industry.
According to studies, the ship could also process gas from fields other than Buzios in the future, a source said.