Brazil's Imetame readying equipment for offshore oil projects

Brazil’s Imetame plans to handle load-out operations involving 21 pieces of equipment for offshore oil and gas fields within the next year, a source close to the matter told BNamericas. 

The operations involve subsea manifolds (pictured) to be installed by TechnipFMC in the Marlim field, suction piles to be installed by McDermott and TechnipFMC in the Sépia and Mero 1 fields, and skids by SLB (formerly Schlumberger) for the P-80 and P-83 FPSOs. 

Since January, the company has loaded out 10 piles for Saipem (Búzios 5) and two skids for SLB (FPSO P-78). 

All projects are operated by federal oil company Petrobras and located in the Campos and Santos basins, off the country’s southeast coast.

Due to the dimensions of the parts manufactured, with suction piles reaching 20m high and manifolds weighing around 25t, Imetame built a support base and transferred its production to the site where it is building a new port in Aracruz, in the north of Espírito Santo state.

The logistics of the load-out of the manufactured parts is carried out by the terminals that make up the Barra do Riacho port area: Portocel and the Jurong Aracruz shipyard.

However, due to limitations of shipping windows by these locations, in addition to inconveniences caused to the traffic of the region during the transportation of the equipment, Imetame is analyzing the possibility of carrying out the load-out at the manufacturing site itself. 

For this, however, it will need an authorization from the waterway transport regulatory agency Antaq.

The Imetame group comprises several subsidiaries, including Imetame Metalmecânica, which operates in manufacturing, assembly and maintenance of large industries, Imetame Logística Porto (port logistics) and Imetame Energia (oil, gas and electric power).