How Zmax's Blue Marine plans to become a leading offshore 'telco'

Oil and gas engineering firm Grupo Zmax, through its Blue Marine Telecom unit, won two tenders launched by Petrobras for the deployment of 1,900km of offshore fiber networks connecting maritime platforms.

One is for the Santos basin and the other for the Campos basin, both spanning some 25 platforms and worth a combined total of around 1.5bn reais (US$300mn).

Both projects are on track, with activation of the Santos network planned for 2024 and Campos in the first quarter of 2025.

BNamericas speaks to Fernando Brazil, head of business development at Blue Marine Telecom, to find out more about the two initiatives and the company's plans for the future.

BNamericas: What is the status of the offshore fiber networks in the Santos and Campos basins?

Brazil: The Santos basin is in full swing. Yesterday was an important milestone for the project. The first connection was made, which we call shore-end – the connection of the trunk cable that will interconnect the maritime units. This cable completed its shore-end, which is the arrival of the cable from the ship that makes the installation, at Macumba beach in Rio.

There, the cable is being connected to the terrestrial route that will link it to the CLS [cable landing station] in Rio de Janeiro.

BNamericas: Is the shore-end part also Blue Marine Telecom's responsibility?

Brazil: Blue Marine is responsible for the entire project on a turn-key basis for the client Petrobras. For its execution, we have some subcontractors who are responsible for specific activities and the different stages of the project.

The shore-end activity itself was under the direct responsibility of Blue Marine and we sub-contracted another specialized company. The deployment of the trunk cable is also being carried out by our subcontractor, which is HMN Tech. 

HMN Tech, in addition to providing the cable and transmission equipment, the DWDM [optical equipment], and all the CLS and dock-side equipment, is also carrying out the installation service.

BNamericas: HMN Tech is formerly Huawei Marine, right?

Brazil: Yes, which today belongs to another Chinese company [Hengtong].

BNamericas: And who was hired for the shore-end?

Brazil: We contracted Gulf Marine, which is specialized in this type of project.

BNamericas: And how is the Campos basin network progressing?

Brazil: The Campos basin contract was signed in June 2023. We’re in the preliminary phase of engineering design, visits to the landing sites, associated topography projects. 

The Campos project is still in an initial phase, in which the entire engineering project is being detailed. There is still no implementation activity taking place.

BNamericas: When should that start?

Brazil: The forecast for delivery of the Campos project is March 2025. 

The practical, operational part, is expected to start in the second half next year, with the implementation of the trunk cable sections and also the oil and gas part.

This is important. We divide this type of project into two main parts. One is the trunk cable, which will form the ring connecting the two landing stations, one in Quissamã, in Rio state, and the other in Anchieta, in Espírito Santo. This part runs in parallel and will also start in 2024.

The other part, the oil and gas one, is the connection of this ring with the oil units and platforms. 

The trunk cable has a series of submarine derivations of branching units. These branches connect with the umbilical cables that go to the dock-sides of the platforms.

BNamericas: How far has the Santos basin project progressed?

Brazil: The oil and gas part has advanced between 55% and 60% in terms of installation. The delivery forecast is February-March 2024.

For the Santos project, this process is more complex. As the distances are greater, this submarine trunk cable is a “repeatable” one. That is, it has several submarine repeaters to regenerate the signal and avoid loss of quality until it reaches the platform.

In the Santos project we implemented a SUTA [submarine terminal assembling unit] for these repeated cables.

In the Campos basin, on the other hand, as the link sizes are smaller, it was possible to use non-repeatable technology, which is simpler and allows us to make a direct connection between these submarine branch units and the platforms without the need to repeat the signal.

BNamericas: How many platforms should be connected in total?

Brazil: For the Santos basin, 13 platforms, with capacity for expansion to nine more. The initial contract is for 13, but it also provided for the other nine on the cable.

In the Campos Basin, there will be 12 offshore units, potentially with another nine. That’s the offshore part. 

In the onshore part, in the Santos basin, Petrobras already has a CLS in Quissamã. This CLS will be adapted and expanded. In Anchieta, there is no CLS. It will be built from scratch on land that’s already owned by Petrobras. These projects are also the responsibility of Blue Marine.

In the case of the Santos basin, Petrobras contracted the colocation part in a separate tender with another supplier. Petrobras will use the space in the existing CLS of this company, both in Rio de Janeiro and in Praia Grande.

Petrobras' main focus with these two offshore optical networks is to better meet the demand for automation, online control of the units, reduction of logistics costs and increased occupational safety.

BNamericas: For the Campos basin, Zmax didn’t make the highest bid and there was some opposition from the other contenders. What happened in that process?

Brazil: In the tender for the Campos basin, we offered the second highest bid. But the technical and commercial proposal of the first-placed bidder didn’t prove to be effective after the due diligence phase carried out by Petrobras. Hence why we were chosen.

There was some kind of challenge, yes, an injunction, but it was easily overturned by Petrobras. There was no involvement on our part.

The proposal for the Campos Basin is around 1.1bn reais in updated values.

BNamericas: What about Santos?

Brazil: The proposal for the Santos basin was around 1.3bn reais. 

As I said, the technical complexity and the total cable length of the Campos project is smaller. In Campos it’s approximately 700km of cable and in Santos approximately 1,200km.

BNamericas: This is your main contract in this segment. Are there others in the pipeline? What are the company’ plans?

Brazil: Grupo Zmax was founded in 2008 for offshore engineering operations. The telecom area [Blue Marine Telecom] began being created in 2018 with my arrival and the arrival of other partners to the group.

We brought more than 20 years of market expertise, coming from the former firm Chain Telecom. We had expertise in fiber optic submarine cable projects from Festoon [a submarine telecom cable], currently owned by Claro and implemented in 1996. This cable still exists and it works well.

When we joined Zmax and created the telecom area, our first objective was to win a tender to continue providing maintenance services to Festoon.

We were successful in this tender and signed a five-year deal, which will end in 2024, for the maintenance of Claro's underwater network that runs from Santos to Natal. That was our first contract.

BNamericas: And after that?

Brazil: With this contract, we were able to structure ourselves in terms of specialized labor, equipment, and requirements. Soon after, we participated in some tenders for Petrobras, for a small network that the company has in Macaé in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, we‘ve won three or four tenders for them to perform submarine repair services.

These two maintenance projects [Claro and Petrobras] provided us with the leverage to be bold and move on to actual implementation projects. 

We won a tender for the interconnection of an electro-optical cable for the Isa Cteep group in Santa Catarina. Then there were these two offshore fiber projects for Petrobras.

We have expansion plans with some projects in Brazil, but also with a vision of advancing in Latin America, in the South Atlantic, not only with implementation, but with maintenance too.

This vision of ours is in line with the submarine telecom market, which is expanding. We have some important systems coming to Brazil this year.

BNamericas: Are you currently participating in any tenders and RFPs?

Brazil: We have some ongoing projects, consultations and RFPs. I can’t give details, but in the energy sector there’s a project we’re involved with outside Brazil. The others are more focused on subsea systems, telecom.