Modec has said it is appointing a new chief executive a day after it was banned from Petrobras tenders for 13 months.
CEO Yuji Kozai is stepping down for reasons of ill-health, the Japanese outfit said.
The board of directors has decided to promote executive vice president Takeshi Kanamori as his replacement.
"The changes are also to further drive growth and increase corporate value under new leadership amidst changes in the business environment," Modec said.
Advisory role
Kozai will leave the board but stay on as an executive advisor to the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel operator.
Kanamori, a former Mitsui & Co man who was born in 1956, joined Modec in 2013.
The news came a day after Modec said it had received notification from Brazilian energy company Petrobras that its "eligibility to participate in new competitive bidding" has been suspended for 13 months.
The main basis for the sanction is "losses to Petrobras presumably caused by the performance" of three FPSOs that Modec has or has had on charter to Petrobras, the Japanese company added.
The 1986-built Cidade do Rio de Janeiro's charter contract expired in 2019, while Cidade de Niteroi (built 2016) and Cidade de Santos (built 1973) are currently serving the energy major.
"There is no expectation of further developments or implications, including on Modec's financials, as this administrative sanction does not impact the execution of the current contracts in place between Modec and Petrobras," the company added.
Working to eliminate issues
The group said it remained committed to improving its practices, in order to eliminate any issues under the current contracts.
Modec continues to see Brazil as its main and most promising market.
The owner reaffirmed its commitment to the oil and gas sector.
In 2020, Modec and three Japanese partners secured close to $1bn in financing for an FPSO construction project off Brazil.
The principle lender is state-backed Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). JBIC is providing $352m in funding to the project under its Growth Investment Facility to promote the development of Japanese companies.
The project is being run through Modec’s Dutch subsidiary Marlim1 MV33. It involves the construction of a 1m-barrel crude oil storage capacity FPSO to be operated under a 25-year charter contract with Petrobras.
Modec has 16 FPSOs in operation, with another four on order.
