Petrobras plans for floating LNG terminals off Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)–Brazilian federal oil company Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, has received three design proposals for floating liquefied natural gas terminals that could help deliver the fuel from oil fields far offshore, a key executive said Tuesday.

The proposals will be opened Aug. 25, with a final selection of the winning design expected Oct. 31, Gas and Energy Director Maria das Gracas Foster said. The three bids were from a consortium of Technip, Modec and JGC; SBM and Chiyoda; and Saipem.

The floating liquefaction plants would liquefy natural gas produced hundreds of kilometers offshore at the recently discovered ultra-deep-water fields known as the pre-salt.

Floating LNG plants serve as “an alternative” to traditional submarine pipelines, Foster said. Initial natural gas output will be delivered to shore via pipeline, with the first possible use of floating LNG plants likely no sooner than 2016, she added.

-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires

Updated: September 6, 2011 (Originally published August 9, 2011)

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