In a historic agreement, GE’s Power Services business has announced that it will service power generation equipment in 11 power plants owned by Petrobras, Brazil’s majority state-owned oil company. Valued at more than $300 million, the deal represents GE’s largest transactional power generation services agreement in Latin America. The fleet under the contract represents approximately 80 percent of the Petrobras total installed fleet and generates 4.3 gigawatts (GW) of energy, equivalent to the residential power consumption of 57 million Brazilians.
“Petrobras is an integrated energy company with a focus on oil and gas and constant commitment for greater efficiency in our investments and reduction of our costs without compromising our safety and production goals,” said Alexsandro Silva, general manager of Support for the Operation of Energy Assets of Petrobras. “Petrobras and GE have been working together for several years to ensure high performances of the power generation assets installed at our plants. We are pleased about this unique transaction experience with GE, which is expected to help Petrobras to accomplish the scheduled outages of our assets for the next four years while also increasing significantly our savings in maintenance throughout the duration of the agreement.”As the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the assets, GE’s expertise on gas turbine engineering, operational profiles and technology solutions were key attributes to the successful deal. GE’s Fleet360* platform of total plant services solutions will help Petrobras ensure reliable, long-term execution of the scheduled outages of its 11 power plants throughout the country while significantly cutting maintenance costs.
“This historic win marks our largest transactional power generation services agreement in Latin America,” said Scott Strazik, president and CEO of GE’s Power Service business. “It builds on our successful relationship with Petrobras, reconfirms our commitment to our transactional business and supports our focus to work with our customers to find the right mix of solutions to help meet their dynamic needs. In addition, sustaining gas turbine performance in these times of ever-shrinking budgets can be a difficult challenge. This project highlights how we can tailor the right services solutions to cut Petrobras’ operational and maintenance cosst by up to 25 percent and provide support for the next four years.”
The four-year agreement signed in December 2017 includes inspections, parts and repairs for 20 of GE’s heavy-duty gas turbines (four 6FA, six 7FA, 10 GT11N2), 23 of GE’s LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbines, three GE steam turbines and 13 GE generators, which Petrobras has been operating at the 11 power plants since 2001.
Besides its laser-focused domain expertise on power generation technology, GE’s execution teams in Latin America have played a significant role improving cycle time, quality and service to Petrobras as well as other companies in the region.
GE is also working with CELSE (Centrais Elétricas de Sergipe S.A.) on a turnkey combined-cycle plant project being built in Barra dos Coqueiros in the state of Sergipe. The project will include three of GE’s industry-leading 7HA heavy-duty gas turbines, as well as steam turbine, heat recovery steam generator and transmission technology. GE also will provide operations, maintenance, repairs and digital solutions for the 1,516-megawatt combined-cycle power plant.
“GE continues to help our customers find ways to remain competitive in today’s ever-evolving energy landscape,” said Daniel Meniuk, GE’s region general manager for Brazil. “We’ve contributed in a more assertive and robust way to the development, diversification and efficiency of the Brazilian energy matrix. Today, GE’s equipment is responsible for more than 33 percent of all energy produced in the country, exceeding 47 GW.”
GE has had a long-standing presence in Brazil for 98 years. Today, there are more than 12,000 GE employees in the country working throughout all GE industrial businesses, including 28 production and services sites.
