The FPSO is deployed at the Bacalhau (formerly Carcará) field in the BM-S-8 and Carcará North blocks, located in the giant “pre-salt” region of the Santos Basin, approximately 185 km off the coast of Ilhabela/SP, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.

A Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the FPSO was signed between Equinor and MODEC in January 2020, covering Front End Engineering Design (FEED) and pre-investment, MODEC was officially awarded the contract for Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) the FPSO in June 2021 further to Final Investment Decision (FID) . MODEC will provide Equinor with operations and maintenance services for the FPSO during its first year, after which Equinor will operate the FPSO until the end of the license period in 2053.

The FPSO vessel is permanently moored at a water depth of approximately 2,050 meters by a spread mooring system supplied by MODEC group company, SOFEC, Inc.

As one of the largest FPSOs ever delivered to Brazil, the vessel features a large topside designed to produce up to 220,000 barrels of crude oil per day, process and inject up to 530 million standard cubic feet of associated gas per day and inject up to 200,000 barrels of seawater per day. The FPSO has crude oil strage capasity of 2,000,000 barrels. Notably, the project uses a Combined Cycle Power Generation System to help reduce CO₂ emissions during operations.

The FPSO Bacalhau is the first application of MODEC's “M350 Hull”,a next-generation, new-build, full double hull design developed to accommodate larger topsides and greater storage capacity than conventional VLCC tankers, with an extended design service life.​ .

The vessel is MODEC's 17th FPSO/FSO delivered in Brazil, the 9th FPSO in the pre-salt region, and MODEC’s first project with Equinor.

First Oil was achieved in October 2025, marking a significant milestone for the Bacalhau project and MODEC’s continued contribution to Brazil’s energy sector.