Fjords Processing delivers equipment package for Petrobras new FPSO

September 9, 2016

Fjords Processing has completed and delivered a sulfate removal unit (SRU) and seawater injection treatment package which will be used on the Petrobras P-75 FPSO in Brazil.

The company said on Thursday that the unit was built for offshore contractor QGI Brasil, who is running the FPSO topsides construction.

The SRU was built at Morimatsu Jiangsu Heavy Industries in Nantong, China, and will be transported to Cosco Shipyard in Dalian where the hull conversion and topside integration of the FPSO are under way.

To remind, the original contract for the FPSOs was signed in September 2013. The deal for the SRU started in early 2014 but was later interrupted for nearly a year before resuming in November 2015. Fjords Processing said it re-negotiated with the client and suppliers and remobilized engineering and construction crews to secure delivery of the product.

Alfredo Passos, General Manager for Fjords Processing Brazil, said: “I would like to thank the entire team who worked hard towards the successful completion of this project.”

The P-75 FPSO will operate in ultra-deepwater in the Cessão Onerosa region of the Santos Basin pre-salt fields and will be able to produce 150,000 barrels per day.

The FPSOs is planned to be deployed at the Buzios field, formerly known as Franco, which is a part of a pre-salt formation and is an onerous transfer wholly owned and operated by Petrobras. It is located some 200 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro at a depth of 1,600-2,000m and in December 2013 was declared commercial.

The sulfate removal unit can treat 47,200 cubic meters of seawater per day, which is then used both for injection into wells and for feeding the reverse osmosis package.

Fjords explained that sulfate removal is important in ensuring that injection and production wells remain free of barium and strontium scale. The company added that the unit increases productivity, prevents reservoir souring, reduces equipment corrosion and assists in maintaining reservoir permeability.