Milan-listed offshore engineering and construction company Saipem is set to appeal a two-year ban on signing new contracts with the Brazilian public administration following an investigation into alleged irregularities surrounding a deal signed with Petrobras in 2011.
The suspension, imposed by the Brazilian Controladoria-Geral da União (CGU), targets Saipem and its Brazilian subsidiary, Saipem do Brasil, in connection with the BM-S-11 consortium’s contract for installing a gas pipeline. The US$140 million contract, awarded in December 2011, came under scrutiny after reports indicated that a former Saipem commercial representative had allegedly bribed an ex-Petrobras director to secure the deal.
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Initially, the CGU had issued a ban on Saipem contracting with the Brazilian government in December 2022. However, in a recent development, the CGU amended its decision, substituting the ban with a temporary suspension lasting more than two years.
Saipem said the sanctions would not impact its ongoing projects in Brazil, emphasizing that the suspension solely applies to potential new contracts and pertains exclusively to dealings with the public administration.
The company underscored this distinction, citing a recent contract win in November from Norway’s Equinor for the Raia project, a pre-salt gas and condensate field development in the Campos basin, situated approximately 200 kilometers offshore the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
