Brazil’s federal oil firm Petrobras launched a tender to charter pipelay support vessels (PLSVs) for 1,410 days.

The process calls for the contracting of Brazilian and foreign-flagged boats able to begin operations by July 2023 or 180 days after contract signing.

If national PLSVs do not meet Petrobras’ demand, the firm may hire the foreign vessels offered in the tender.

Commercial proposals will be opened on June 29.

Requesting anonymity, a top executive of a PLSV operator in Brazil told BNamericas that the tender will add vessels to Petrobras’ fleet, which currently comprises 17 units.

In recent years, the oil company’s PLSV tenders were mostly designed to replace contracts due to expire.