Petrobras opens bidding for large newbuild contract

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, opened bidding on more than $1 billion of contracts to build 26 oil tankers and other vessels as the company boosts its spending on domestic construction. The newbuilding contacts cover 10 Suezmax tankers, five Aframax tankers, four Panamax tankers, four product carriers and three natural gas tankers.

Qualified bidders include seven Brazilian shipyards with participation of such groups as Japan’s Mitsui, Korea’s Hyundai and Norway’s Aker. Petrobras is taking the bids as part of a $56 billion plan to almost double output by 2010 to 3.4 million barrels a day, about as much as Mexico, the hemisphere’s largest producer.

Petrobras plans to spend $32 billion, or 57%, of the 2005-2010 investment budget on equipment and services from Brazilian contractors. The government has spent or loaned $670 million in the last year and a half to help revive the country’s shipbuilding industry and merchant marine.