The FINANCIAL -- GE Oil & Gashas been selected to provide key equipment for a floating oil production, storage and offloading platform being built to develop the Guará Norte section of the Tupi oilfield in Brazil’s Santos oil basin, according to General Electric Company.

The multimillion-barrel deep-water Santos formation lies some 300 kilometers offshore Rio de Janeiro, and its output is expected to transform Brazil into one of the world’s leading oil producers and exporters.

GE will supply the FPSO’s builder, SBM Offshore, with four GE LM2500+G4 aeroderivative gas turbines, two turbocompressor trains driven by GE PGT25 gas turbines for carbon dioxide compression and six EM driven GE compressors, along with related services, by the end of 2012.

The FPSO will work in waters 2,300 meters deep and is designed to process 150,000 barrels per day of production fluids; to treat 6,000,000 m3/day of associated gases for CO2/hydrogen sulphide removal and compression; and to inject 180,000 bpd water into the ground. Delivery is set for 2014 under a 20-year lease to the consortium developing Guará Norte: Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. , BG E&P Brasil LTDA and Repsol Sinopec Brasil S.A.

GE has a substantial and growing presence in Brazil to serve the oil and gas sector. GE plants in Jandira and Macaé support the large fleet of GE aeroderivative gas turbines working offshore and provide state-of-the-art inspection, maintenance, repair, parts, tools and engineering services for drilling and for subsea wellhead, production and control systems.

GE also has announced it will invest US$500 million to expand its Brazilian operations, including the establishment of a multi-disciplinary research and development center in Rio de Janeiro to pursue advanced technologies for the oil and gas sector, among other areas. Moreover, GE’s acquisition of Wellstream, a leading producer of flexible pipe equipment, significantly expands GE’s capabilities to serve the Brazilian offshore market from Wellstream’s Rio de Janeiro base.

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