Hanwha Ocean has successfully delivered the P79 floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO), which was previously involved in a fatal accident, to the shipowner.
On the 18th, the FPSO P79 built by Hanwha Ocean for Petrobras departed on schedule by the end of this year as contracted and is expected to arrive at its destination in February 2026.
The FPSO P79 will be deployed at the Bezios oil field, the world’s largest deepwater oil field. It is designed to produce 180,000 barrels of crude oil and 7.2 million cubic meters of natural gas daily, with a maximum oil storage capacity of 2 million barrels. Six FPSOs are currently deployed at this field for crude oil and natural gas production operations.
Renata Baruchi, Chief Technology Officer of Petrobras, stated, “Similar to the P-78 platform, the strategy of having the crew arrive with the platform has proven to be an effective strategy for shortening the construction cycle. The P-79 that has arrived is the eighth of the 12 production units planned for the Bezios oil field. With on-time delivery and the crew-on-board strategy, we expect to advance the initial crude oil production time by two months.”
Notably, the FPSO P79 delivered by Hanwha Ocean experienced a fatal stern crane winch fracture incident in September this year, resulting in the tragic death of Rodrigo Reis Barreto (39), a Petrobras employee overseeing the testing on-site, who fell into the sea. Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Hee-cheul issued an apology statement regarding the incident, pledging support for the victim’s family and committing to implementing measures to prevent recurrence.
The accident has drawn the attention of both the shipowner and the Brazilian labor union federation. The shipowner has established a special investigative committee to investigate the fatalities. The Federation of Oil Workers of Brazil (FUP, abbreviation of the Portuguese “Federação Única dos Petroleiros”) has explicitly demanded that the investigation be fully transparent, with effective participation from union representatives, to identify the causes, rectify deficiencies, and prevent such tragedies from recurring.
It is understood that Hanwha Ocean secured the contract for the FPSO P79 in 2021 through a joint bid with Italian offshore giant Saipem, with a total value of approximately $2.3 billion. Despite the incident, Hanwha Ocean stated that construction of this FPSO model remains on track, having completed the integration of the hull’s superstructure and the construction of four modules.
Currently, Petrobras is continuously increasing its investment in FPSO projects to support the development of the Santos subsalt oil field, and plans to order several FPSOs in the next 5 to 6 years.