Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On September 16, 2021, Mero 2 Owning B.V. — a special purpose vehicle that is jointly owned by SBM Offshore (64.5% equity stake), Mitsubishi Corporation (20% equity stake) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (15.5% equity stake) — signed a $1.6 billion syndicated loan agreement with 13 Chinese and non-Chinese banks for the Mero 2 Oil Field-Sepetiba Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Unit Project. Known participants in the syndicate included Bank of China, MUFG Bank, ING Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Mizuho Bank, Societe Generale, ABN AMRO Bank, Credit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), Clifford Capital, Citigroup, BNP Paribas, Rabobank, and Santander. Bank of China reportedly contributed $135 million to the syndicate. The loan carries a 16.5 year maturity (final maturity date: March 15, 2038) and it includes four separate tranches with a 4.3% weighted average cost of debt (interest rate). It is backed by credit insurance policies from Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), SACE S.p.A., and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure). The proceeds of the loan are to be used for the construction of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit in Brazil led by SBM Offshore. The FPSO Sepetiba (formerly known as Mero 2) vessel, which is owned and operated by Mero 2 Owning B.V., has a 22.5-year lease and operation contract signed with Petrobras and will be deployed to the Mero oilfield in the Santos Basin, in which China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and CNODC are participants. The Mero oilfield is 180 km offshore Rio de Janeiro. The vessel has a processing capacity of up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day, a water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day, associated gas treatment capacity of 12 million standard cubic meters per day and a minimum storage capacity of 1.4 million barrels of crude oil. The FPSO will be spread moored in approximately 2,000 meters water depth. The Libra block, where the Mero field is located, is under a production sharing agreement with a consortium comprised of Petrobras as operator (40%), Shell Brasil (20%), TotalEnergies (20%), CNODC (10%) and CNOOC (10%). The consortium also has the participation of state-owned Pre-Sal Petroleo SA (PPSA), as manager of the production sharing contract. SBM Offshore announced that FPSO Sepetiba is formally on hire as of January 2, 2024.
Staff comments
1. Some sources indicate that two additional Chinese banks (other than Bank of China) joined the loan syndicated after financial close. This issue warrants further investigation. 2. The financing will become non-recourse once the FPSO is completed and the pre-completion guarantee has been released. 3. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the parent company of PetroChina, develops overseas assets through a joint venture, CNPC Exploration & Development Company (CNODC), which is 50% owned by PetroChina. 4. The Chinese project title is SBM塞佩提巴海上浮式生产储油卸油船（FPSO Sepetiba）项目.