Statoil and its partner Sinochem have agreed to purchase the Peregrino floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) from Maersk. The FPSO unit has been in use at the Statoil-operated Peregrino field in Brazil since production start-up in 2011.

FPSO contractor BW Offshore will take over operation of the FPSO after a transition period of about six months.
At present, the vessel is operating in the Campos Basin 85 km off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The unit has a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels of oil, and produced over 15 million barrels during its first year of operation.

Statoil will formally take title of the FPSO on July 31.

"Brazil plays an important part in Statoil's international growth strategy specializing in deepwater and heavy oil. We've been present in Brazil since 2001 and this was the right time for us to invest further,” said Thore E Kristiansen, senior vice president for development and production international, South America and sub-Saharan Africa in Statoil.