Australia's Global Energy Ventures (GEV) is working on a second potential contract in Brazil that could see it deploy a large fleet of compressed natural gas carriers.
A request for information (RFI) has been received from an unnamed operator of multiple offshore oil and gas projects in the country, the Sydney-listed company said.
This is the second global oil and gas major that GEV has engaged with in Brazil to evaluate the export and commercialisation of gas using its new CNG Optimum vessel design.
"GEV has been confident for some time that...offshore Brazil is a multi-project region for the company, and we are pleased to advance the technical and economic review of marine CNG for a second operator to study a gas supply chain utilising CNG Optimum," said Garry Triglavcanin, GEV's executive director and chief development officer.
He added any deal would involve very substantial gas volumes and GEV expects to deliver a commercially compelling business case.
20-year contract?
The company will examine gas supply points, export volumes, gas specifications, transportation distances and delivery locations.
"The scale of the opportunity is significant, with the requirement for a large fleet of CNG ships, over a period of up to 20 years," GEV added.
The study will draw on work already carried out for its first prospective job in Brazil.
The company's response to the operator will be ready in the first quarter of 2021.
The project will involve a submerged turret loading system, which is a riser connected to a floating production, storage and offloading (FSPO) unit, and an unloading terminal, as well as its CNG Optimum CNG carrier design.
Ships lined up
GEV has a newbuilding deal for up to eight of these vessels lined up at Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore in China, but a final contract has not yet been signed.
In August, GEV revealed it was teaming up with offshore gas hub company Porto Norte Fluminense (PNF) in Brazil to develop a CNG-to-power project.
PNF has secured preliminary environmental approvals to develop an offshore port and gas hub to the north of Rio de Janeiro, within 250 nautical miles (463 km) of supply from the Santos and Campos basins of Brazil’s pre-salt reserves. It expects to receive additional permits in 2021 for gas processing and two gas-fired power plants.
The company has licensed two terminal options, which GEV said are both suitable for CNG facilities.
First operations are targeted for 2025.
