KBR's wholly owned subsidiary Granherne has been awarded a three-year engineering services contract by Petrobras America, a subsidiary of the Brazilian oil and gas major Petrobras.

The Granherne marine group will serve as the owner’s engineer to Petrobras America. The scope of work comprises engineering services on the Cascade and Chinook developments in the Walker ridge area of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Granherne will be providing technical support for the design of the hull for the early production system, floating production storage and offloading system (FPSO), and later phase full field development. The FPSO, at a depth of 2,600 meters of water, when deployed, will be the first in the US Gulf of Mexico and will be the world’s deepest FPSO to date, the company said.

Richard D’Souza, general manager of Granherne, said: This award demonstrates KBR and Granherne’s commitment to Petrobras’s deepwater projects as well as our ongoing participation in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. KBR has a proven track record of executing complex projects and we look forward to showcasing that expertise while assisting Petrobras on this venture.