国际英语新闻：Brazil's oil giant signs deal to build eight platforms

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras announced Thursday it has signed a 3.46-billion-U.S.-dollar contract with Brazilian firm Engevix Engenharia for the construction of eight drilling platforms.

The contract was signed with partner companies of BG, Galp Energia and Repsol, through Petrobras's affiliated companies Tupi-BV and Guara-BV.

All the platforms will be FPSOs (floating, production, storage and offloading units), capable of pumping up to 150,000 barrels of oil and six million cubic meters of gas a day. Petrobras expected them to increase domestic oil production by some 900,000 barrels a day.

The platforms will be built at the Rio Grande Naval Pole, located in Brazil's northeastern Rio Grande do Sul state. The construction of the first two platforms will be finished in 2013, and the others in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Six of the eight platforms will be operated by the consortium formed for Block BM-S-11, located in the Tupi and Iracema areas. Petrobras owns 65 percent stakes of the business, with BG having 25 percent and Galp Energia holding the rest ten percent.

The other two platforms will be operated by the Block BM-S-9 consortium, located in Guara and Carioca areas. The consortium is formed by Petrobras (45 percent stakes), BG (30 percent) and Repsol (25 percent).

According to Petrobras, the platforms are part of the company's new strategy to simplify projects and standardize its equipment.