Mitsui, Mitsubishi Win $800 Million Brazil Oil Loan

Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi Corp. and two other partners won an $800 million loan from a group of lenders led by state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation for an offshore oil production project in Brazil.

Six lenders including Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will provide financing for the Tupi Pilot MV22 BV venture formed by four companies including Modec Inc. and Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., the Japanese lender said in a statement on its Web site today.

The Netherlands-based venture and Modec will build the floating production, storage and offloading vessel, operating it for 15 years for Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state- controlled crude producer, said the Japanese lender, known as JBIC. The project will help Petrobras develop Brazil’s pre-salt offshore region including Tupi, the largest oil discovery in the Americas in more than 30 years.

Demand for floating production vessels is set to grow on expectations Brazil will find more deep-water oil wells, Modec, Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Mitsui OSK said in a joint e-mailed statement.

The vessel would have the capacity to produce 100,000 barrels a day of crude and 150 million cubic feet a day of associated gas, according to the statement. It would have oil- storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels.

Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras plans to invest as much as $220 billion through 2014 as it taps offshore reserves. Modec is a Japanese maker oil and gas-producing equipment.