Brazil OSX Gets Go-Ahead to Start Building Acu Shipyard

- Brazil OSX Gets Go-Ahead to Start Building Acu Shipyard

Monday, June 27, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
RIO DE JANEIRO
by Jeff Fick & Diana Kinch

Brazilian oil-field services company OSX Brasil said Monday that it had received approval to start construction of a shipyard at the Acu Port complex in Rio de Janeiro state.

OSX will start work next month to build "the largest shipyard in the Americas," the company said. OSX, part of billionaire Brazilian businessman Eike Batista's industrial conglomerate, will partner with South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. to build the shipyard, the company said.

Brazil's ship-building industry is undergoing a renaissance as the company ramps up production to meet growing demand from the country's oil and natural-gas industry. Several new shipyards are under construction along Brazil's Atlantic Ocean coast, while many yards that were closed during an industry downturn in the early 1980s are being revived.

Brazil was among the world's largest ship producing countries in the 1980s before a global downturn in the industry saw the local docks shuttered.

Last week, OSX said that it had received approval for a credit line worth up to 2.7 billion Brazilian reais ($1.69 billion) from Brazil's Merchant Marine Fund to finance construction of the shipyard.

OSX plans to build vessels for sister company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes, which will produce crude oil from the Campos Basin off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. The 2,400-meter docks at the shipyard will have the capacity to build up to 11 floating production, storage and offloading vessels, or FPSOs, at the same time. The FPSOs use hulls about the size of an oil supertanker.

Another OSX sister company, LLX Logistica, which is responsible for construction of Acu port, said Monday it gained an environmental permit to construct a navigation channel within the port. The channel, called TX2, will provide 8,000 meters of quayside, substantially boosting the quayside capacity available on the port's coastal stretch.

Part of the additional quayside space will be used by the OSX shipyard, while the rest is planned for use in loading and unloading of products including steel, coal, granite and oil, LLX said.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Merchant Marine Fund OKs Financing to OSX Shipbuilding Unit

- Merchant Marine Fund OKs Financing to OSX Shipbuilding Unit

Thursday, June 23, 2011
OSX Brasil S.A.

Merchant Marine Fund (Fundo da Marinha Mercante ­ FMM) has approved the prioritization of financial support for the Açu Shipbuilding Unit ("UCN Açu") project of OSX Construção Naval S.A., pursuant to the resolution published today in the Federal Official Gazzete (Diário Oficial da União).

According to the news published by the media in general, OSX estimates that the credit line could reach R$ 2.7 billion to implement the largest shipyard in the Americas within the Açu Superport Industrial Complex, which is located in the São João da Barra Industrial District created by the Rio de Janeiro State Government and implemented by the Rio de Janeiro State Developing Company (Companhia de Desenvolvimento do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - CODIN).

"This decision from the FMM is a confirmation of the national interest in the realization of the OSX Shipbuilding Unit, which is a decisive instrument so that we, Brazilians, may enjoy the benefits arising from the oil and gas that we have discovered in the offshore basins of our country," stated Eike Batista, Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors.

The Açu Shipbuilding Unit is a result of a partnership between OSX Construção Naval S.A. and its partner Hyundai Heavy Industries. "In addition to the technological endorsement provided by Hyundai, our project receives with pride and responsibility the most important credit line available to the Brazilian naval industry from the FMM's Board," affirmed Luiz Eduardo Carneiro, OSX's CEO.

The main characteristics of the shipyard are:

• 5th generation shipyard leveraging the Korean technology of Hyundai
• Largest shipyard of the Americas, creating more than 10,000 direct jobs during the operational phase
• Located in the Açu Superport Industrial Complex, with excellence in logistics and strategic location, at approximately 150 km from Campos Basin, responsible for 85% of Brazil's crude oil output
• Proximity to steel plants, enabling operation with steel plates of 18m x 4m, generating up to a 56% cost reduction in welding
• Near to energy plants, guaranteeing its supply and up to 30% cost reduction
• Quay of 2,400m, expandable to 3,525m, enabling the integration of up to 11 FPSOs

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SBM Offshore Secures LOI for EPCI Supply

SBM Offshore Secures LOI for EPCI Supply

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

SBM Offshore N.V.

SBM Offshore has executed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with OSX 2 Leasing BV, an indirect subsidiary of OSX Brasil and part of the EBX Group. This LOI will permit SBM to start project activities, including early engineering and procurement up to $25MM, relating to the future conversion, supply and installation of a floating production, storage and offloading vessel to OSX (FPSO OSX-2). The full EPCI contract for FPSO OSX-2 is expected to be executed within a month.

FPSO OSX-2 will be chartered by OSX to its customer OGX Petróleo e Gás Ltda. (OGX), also a company of the EBX Group, and will be deployed on oil fields in the Campos basin offshore Brazil. First oil is targeted by 3Q 2013.