SBM Offshore announced Friday that it has secured a US$620 million bridge loan facility for the financing of the construction of FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão.
The FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão will be deployed at the Mero field in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. Mero is a project under Libra Consortium responsibility, in which Petrobras is the operator with 40 percent and with the following partners: Shell Brasil with 20 percent, TotalEnergies with 20 percent, CNODC and CNOOC Limited with 10 percent each, together with Pré-sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA) as manager of this contract.
The facility was secured by the special purpose company which will own FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão. Currently, SBM Offshore is the sole owner of this special purpose company. Discussions around the divestment of 45% of the equity ownership to partners continue to progress.
The facility will be fully drawn in the coming days to finance the ongoing construction of the FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão. The tenor of the bridge loan is twelve months with an extension option for another six months. Repayment is expected to take place upon closure and first drawdown of the project loan.
The Dutch company is the builder and operator of the Liza Destiny FPSO producing oil for ExxonMobil offshore Guyana and the Liza Unity FPSO, targeting first oil early 2022. SBM Offshore is also set to deliver additional FPSOs to Guyana, being constructed under its Fast4Ward® program.
