Posted on October 13, 2025
Petrobras announced an investment package worth approximately 3 billion (bi) reais (US$560 million) in Northeast Brazil, earmarked for shipbuilding and fertilizer production.
Six new support vessels will be built at the Enseada shipyard in Maragojipe, Bahia, as part of a 2.6bn reais plan that also includes the reopening of the nitrogen fertilizer factory (Fafen) in the state.
The vessels will have a four-year construction period and a 12-year operating contract. The projects will have a minimum local content of 40%, with potential local content reaching 65%, with incentives from the Merchant Marine Fund (FMM).
Claudio Romeo Schlosser, Petrobras’ executive director for logistics, commercialization and market, said these are the final contracts in a package of 22 units, including PSVs (platform supply vessels) and OSRVs (oil spill recovery vessels).
“These boats come with innovative onboard technology, with hybrid engines and a smaller carbon footprint,” Schlosser highlighted during a press conference.
At Fafen, located in Camaçari, Petrobras will invest 520mn reais to reactivate it through an O&M (Operation and Maintenance) contract with Engeman.
Leased to Proquigel in 2020, the plant was dormant due to the Unigel group company’s difficulty in making the business viable given the high price of natural gas.
Petrobras’ executive manager of natural gas processing, Wagner Fenício, reported that urea and ammonia production will resume later this year at the Fafen Bahia and Fafen Sergipe units, which were also leased to Unigel and will receive an investment of approximately 480mn reais.
Petrobras President Magda Chambriard highlighted that the two plants are expected to consume approximately 2.5Mm3/d of gas, strengthening the integration between the company’s operations.
“If I have gas, and gas is an input for my fertilizer, that’s great, isn’t it? I’m vertically integrating the business and taking advantage of synergies within the Petrobras system,” she said.
Decommissioning
Petrobras intends to reactivate the São Roque construction site in Bahia to decommission oil production platforms.
“We are decommissioning platforms in Rio Grande do Sul and working at the Port of Açu [in Rio de Janeiro] and, now, we are back supporting the state of Bahia,” said Chambriard, highlighting that São Roque has the capacity to dock two large platforms.
Petrobras’ decommissioning plan until 2029 foresees investments of 2.5bn reais.
Transpetro President Sérgio Bacci emphasized that Petrobras’ logistics subsidiary will also expand its fleet.
“When we took over, the company had 26 ships. We’re going to practically double that number,” he said.
Among the projects are four handy-class vessels under construction in Rio Grande do Sul, eight gas tankers whose contracting is expected to be announced at the end of this month, as well as 20 barges and tugboats, whose bidding notice is expected to be released in November, along with the notice for four MR1 vessels.
Bacci said this expansion will allow Transpetro to act as a regulator of the maritime freight market.
“When Petrobras contracts vessels from third parties, it needs to know the market situation. This way, we avoid paying more,” he explained.
(The original version of this content was written in Portuguese)
