General Electric has been awarded a $160 million contract to build two new floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels for Brazil's Petrobras.

As part of the agreement, the US energy supermajor will also be responsible for training Petrobras employees to use the vessels efficiently and safely.

Joe Mastrangelo, vice-president for turbomachinery at GE, said the company is delighted to strengthen its partnership with Petrobras.

"We are able to design reliable technology with reduced weights and dimensions to improve the performance and efficiency of both Petrobras floating production units," he commented.

Both FPSO vessels will be built and tested at GE's headquarters in Florence, the company confirmed.

Earlier this week, GE also announced that its South African division will provide Transnet with ten medium-speed generators to support its multi-product pipeline under construction between Durban and Johannesburg.

The generators will provide emergency power for all pump stations and terminals along the pipeline.

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