<p>Three consortia including Asian shipyards are preparing to compete to build Brazil's Petrobras' first two in-house platforms in more than seven years, according to four people familiar with the tender who declined to be named as the information is private.</p>.<p>Samsung Heavy Industries Co, Hyundai Heavy Industries Holding Co Ltd and Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery Ltd have formed separate consortia that are expected to bid after seven months of preparations, the sources said. Offers are due on Monday, Feb. 1.</p>.<p>Samsung and Petrobras declined to comment. Daewoo and Hyundai did not immediately responded to comment requests.</p>.<p>The competition marks Petrobras' comeback as a key market for Asian shipyards.</p>.<p>Similarly sized units have cost before around $1.7 billion each to be built, one of the sources said. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the state-controlled company is known, is hiring units able to produce 180,000 barrels per day and 7.2 cubic meters of gas, each.</p>.<p>The platforms are effectively massive ships with deep-water drilling equipment that are vital for offshore oil exploration. They are known as FPSOs, or a floating production storage and offloading units.</p>.<p>The debate on where Petrobras should build its own platforms has been a key issue in presidential campaigns over the past two decades in Brazil.</p>.<p>Construction of the hull is labor-intensive, leading past administrations to create domestic-content rules. Those have been eased after a corruption scandal, although the exact local content percentage will only be known once a winner is selected.</p>.<p>Brazil's biggest-ever corruption investigation - known as Carwash - exposed multi-billion dollar bribe payments from Petrobras suppliers aimed at securing contracts, including for platform construction in Brazil and in Asia.</p>.<p>Buried in debt, Petrobras spent more than seven years only leasing its platforms, using long-term contracts that can be amortized over 20 years. Dutch-based SBM Offshore NV and Japan's Modec Inc split the biggest contracts.</p>.<p>Modec and SBM were pre-qualified to participate but have dropped out of the competition, preferring the leasing model in which they can use their own engineering instead of Petrobras', like the current bid. </p>
<p>Three consortia including Asian shipyards are preparing to compete to build Brazil's Petrobras' first two in-house platforms in more than seven years, according to four people familiar with the tender who declined to be named as the information is private.</p>.<p>Samsung Heavy Industries Co, Hyundai Heavy Industries Holding Co Ltd and Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery Ltd have formed separate consortia that are expected to bid after seven months of preparations, the sources said. Offers are due on Monday, Feb. 1.</p>.<p>Samsung and Petrobras declined to comment. Daewoo and Hyundai did not immediately responded to comment requests.</p>.<p>The competition marks Petrobras' comeback as a key market for Asian shipyards.</p>.<p>Similarly sized units have cost before around $1.7 billion each to be built, one of the sources said. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the state-controlled company is known, is hiring units able to produce 180,000 barrels per day and 7.2 cubic meters of gas, each.</p>.<p>The platforms are effectively massive ships with deep-water drilling equipment that are vital for offshore oil exploration. They are known as FPSOs, or a floating production storage and offloading units.</p>.<p>The debate on where Petrobras should build its own platforms has been a key issue in presidential campaigns over the past two decades in Brazil.</p>.<p>Construction of the hull is labor-intensive, leading past administrations to create domestic-content rules. Those have been eased after a corruption scandal, although the exact local content percentage will only be known once a winner is selected.</p>.<p>Brazil's biggest-ever corruption investigation - known as Carwash - exposed multi-billion dollar bribe payments from Petrobras suppliers aimed at securing contracts, including for platform construction in Brazil and in Asia.</p>.<p>Buried in debt, Petrobras spent more than seven years only leasing its platforms, using long-term contracts that can be amortized over 20 years. Dutch-based SBM Offshore NV and Japan's Modec Inc split the biggest contracts.</p>.<p>Modec and SBM were pre-qualified to participate but have dropped out of the competition, preferring the leasing model in which they can use their own engineering instead of Petrobras', like the current bid. </p>