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Loans totalling US$52mn have been underwritten by ECGD to finance four contracts won by UK companies worth US$101mn towards the construction of a deepwater oil production platform located off Brazil’s southeast coast. UK Trade & Investment commercial officers in Brazil also provided help and advice.
Four UK companies are supplying the following equipment to the P52 platform, one of the world’s largest floating platforms, which is operated by Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras:

  •  Power generators assembled by Rolls-Royce Plc, based in Liverpool;
  •  Gas transfer equipment from ETA Process Plant, based in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent;
  •  Injection water treatment plant from Veolia Water Systems, based in Cathcart, Glasgow; and,
  •  Full telecommunications package from Invsat, based in Westhill, Aberdeenshire.
    Under the deal, ECGD helped to arrange a finance package for Petrobras to buy the capital goods from the four UK companies by guaranteeing the US$52mn bank loan provided by BNP Paribas.
    The US$1.8bn P52 platform, scheduled for completion in 2007, is located some 250 miles off the Atlantic coast. Once completed, it is expected that about 200 people will operate the platform which will extract oil from the Roncador field, an oil reserve located in the Campos Basin.
    Based on current growth rates, production of oil will outstrip demand in Brazil by 2006, making the country a net exporter for the first time.