Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda let contracts for the Gato do Mato greenfield development in Block S-M-518 of Santos basin presalt, offshore Brazil.
TechnipFMC has been awarded an integrated engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract and MODEC Inc. will supply, maintain, and operate a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The EPCI project will utilize configure-to-order (CTO) subsea production systems and includes integrated execution. Combining both will streamline project management through a single interface and accelerate first oil. The contract value is more than $1 billion.
MODEC signed a purchase and sales agreement for the FPSO following successful execution of the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract, which was awarded in March 2024 (OGJ Online, Apr. 1, 2024). The FPSO operations and maintenance contract is for a period of 20 years.
MODEC will be responsible for the design of the hull and all related topsides infrastructure. Produced stabilized crude will be stored in the FPSO tanks, and oil will be offloaded to shuttle tankers to go to market.
When installed, FPSO Gato do Mato will be moored about 200 km South of Rio de Janeiro in about 2,000 ft of water. It will feature a new built, custom-made next generation Hull to meet the 25-year design life and will be capable of producing 120,000 bo/d and associated gas and water.
These awards came after Shell took a final investment decision on the development (OGJ Online, Mar. 21, 2025).
Shell operates Gato Do Mato (50%) on behalf of partners Ecopetrol SA (30%) and TotalEnergies SE (20%). The Brazilian government also participates in the shared production agreement through Pré-Sal Petróleo SA.
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
