During this week's ROG.e event, Luiz Feijo, ABS Director, Global Offshore - Production Lead, shared his insights with Offshore about the rapid growth and increasing complexity of Brazil's FPSO market, highlighting technological advancements, project cost challenges, and evolving contractual strategies like build-operate-transfer (BOT) models to optimize offshore oil production. 

Offshore: Brazil remains the world's largest driver of FPSO demand. What key trends is ABS seeing in the Brazilian FPSO market, and how do you expect project requirements to evolve over the next five years?

Offshore: Petrobras continues to advance major presalt developments while exploring new frontier opportunities. What are the biggest technical and operational challenges facing the next generation of offshore production projects in Brazil?

Feijo: The technical challenges come from the different characteristics and locations of each field. Operationally, there isn't much left in the presalt that Petrobras hasn't already done.

The real challenge will be the new Equatorial Margin, close to Guyana and Suriname. That's going to be difficult because of logistics, infrastructure and the sensitive environment, which requires close coordination with environmental agencies. There's no infrastructure there; even mineral water has to be shipped in. All the logistics, personnel, offshore bases and supply chains have to be built from scratch, even though the rest of Brazil's supply chain exists just to the south. 

The bigger challenge is livability; it's hot and humid year-round, right on the equator, and the logistics simply aren't in place yet.

Offshore: How is floating production technology evolving to improve project economics, operational efficiency, safety and asset life extension in deepwater developments?

Feijo: FPSO operators have been exploring reducing manning on board and increasing autonomous and remote operations, but it's still a ways off because the technology isn't there yet.

The core problem with a remote-controlled FPSO is communication reliability. You can't rely on satellites alone, so subsea fiber networks are considered the more reliable option with today’s technology. Given the huge number of FPSOs spread across a deep escarpment down to the seabed, laying that fiber network is a real challenge.

Those are the technical hurdles standing in the way, but the industry is actively studying and working toward bringing more autonomy to FPSOs.

Offshore: What emerging technologies or digital solutions are having the greatest impact on FPSO and offshore production operations today, and where do you see the industry gaining the most value in the near term?

Feijo: Digital twins are probably one of the biggest digital technologies that can make an impact now. Digital twins are virtual models of the FPSO that mirror the real asset in real time, so you can run scenarios, test changes and catch problems before they happen on the actual unit.

ABS has actually been supporting digital twins on some active FPSOs, building a structural digital twin that pulls in inspection data, metocean conditions and cargo operations to give a live, continuous view of how the hull and structure are actually holding up.

Early results have shown digital twins can help reduce inspection and maintenance costs. That’s where the value is.

Digital twins are becoming part of how decisions get made on these assets, and I think that's only going to grow as more FPSOs come online and operators want a faster way to manage a fleet instead of one unit at a time.

Offshore: Looking beyond Brazil, which offshore markets in South America appear most promising for future offshore investment and development, and what factors are driving that growth?

Feijo: Suriname and Guyana continue to stand out for future growth.

Argentina is also active, though its activity isn't offshore; it's offshore units bring onshore gas ashore to liquefy and ship out. Argentina's market has traditionally been domestic within South America, but now the country wants to sell overseas, so four different LNG export terminals are in the works (two under construction and two in planning).

Uruguay will take more time. Large companies leased a lot of its fields, betting on the geological match with Namibia, but activity is still limited to exploration.

In the equatorial region, FPSOs are the leading unity type in Guyana, while both FLNG and FPSO units are being explored in Suriname.

In Venezuela, the water is much shallower, so development will likely favor fixed platforms and jackups in the near term. As activity moves farther offshore into the Caribbean and water depth increases, FPSOs are more likely to become a fit.