Brazil has a need for trees. Underwater, oil sucking trees.
Following up on its March order with Cameron International for $600 million worth of subsea "trees" -- equipment affixed to an oil wellhead to regulate the flow of gas and fluids injected into a well to help force oil out -- Brazilian oil major Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR 0.60%) (PBR.A 0.69%) announced Wednesday that it is ordering another 49 subsea trees, tooling, and associated subsea controls from FMC Technologies (FTI 1.32%) in a contract worth $500 million.
Once again, the trees are destined for use in the pre-salt oilfields located offshore Brazil.
In a statement, FMC noted that this is its second such order from Petrobras, and derives from a contract signed between the two companies in 2012. Indeed, FMC Technologies Senior Vice President for Subsea Technologies Tore Halvorsen advised that "FMC Technologies has been working with Petrobras for more than 30 years and we are pleased to support them in the continued development of their pre-salt fields."
