Brazil's Petrobras eyes restart at oil ships hit by coronavirus (updated)

Modec

17/04/2020 18:09

(Adds additional comments from Petrobras upstream director,
adds information on stopped FPSOs)
    RIO DE JANEIRO, April 17 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-run oil
firm Petrobras plans to restart operations in the coming days at
two ships used in offshore oil production that suffered
coronavirus outbreaks, an executive told journalists during a
call on Friday.
    Petrobras Exploration and Production Director Carlos Alberto
de Oliveira said operations at the Cidade de Santos should
restart over the weekend, and operations at the Capixaba should
restart within 10 days. Both are large ships known as FPSOs. 
    Brazil's offshore oil industry has been hit hard by the
novel coronavirus. Executives disclosed on the Friday call that
there are some 160 confirmed cases of the virus among employees
or contractors of Petroleo Brasileiro SA  PETR4.SA , as the
company is formally known. Dozens of those cases were contracted
on offshore oil facilities, where employees typically eat, sleep
and work in tight quarters.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2C22PD
    Oliveira did not specify how much production may have been
lost after the two FPSOs were evacuated earlier this month. The
FPSO Capixaba, owned by Petrobras contractor SBM Offshore NV
 SBMO.AS , was responsible for roughly 14,400 barrels per day of
oil production according to the most recent data collated by the
ANP, Brazil's oil regulator. The Cidade de Santos, owned by
Japanese oil services firm Modec Inc  6269.T , was responsible
for about 16,900 bpd of production, according to ANP data.
    Petrobras is already in the process of cutting its
production by 200,000 bpd as the coronavirus outbreak has
pummeled demand.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2BP0KD
    Oliveira added on the call that the company will be delaying
all planned maintenance stoppages at its platforms until the
second half of the year to limit large agglomerations of
workers.

 (Reporting by Gram Slattery and Marta Nogueira
Editing by Alistair Bell)
 ((gram.slattery@thomsonreuters.com; +55-11-95057-1453))