Brazilian oil keeps flowing as Campos Basin’s second-largest FPSO hits six-year mark

A floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit operated by Japan’s MODEC on behalf of Brazil’s state-owned energy giant Petrobras has celebrated its sixth year of operation in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil.

On June 22, the FPSO Cidade de Campos dos Goytacazes MV29 celebrated six years since the first oil was produced in the Tartaruga Verde and Tartaruga Mestiça fields situated in Brazil’s Campos Basin. The vessel, which reached 177 million barrels of oil produced in that period, averaging 83 thousand barrels per day, is owned and operated by the Japanese firm for its Brazilian client under a 20-year contract.

MODEC claims the platform reached 99.42% operational efficiency in its first year. Its measurements – 108.7 thousand tons and 335 meters – and production capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day were considered cutting-edge for the player at the time.

“The MV29 was a game changer in the industry, with its capacity to process 150 thousand barrels of oil per day, 5 million cubic meters of gas compression/day and to store 1.6 million barrels of crude oil. The MV29 was also the starting point for new technologies towards greater operational efficiency,” noted Carlos Cunha, Operations Manager of the FPSO.

The vessel is moored approximately 125 km from Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, in a water depth of 765 m. According to a ranking by the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP), it is the second largest producer in the Campos Basin, ranking among the 30 largest producers in Brazil.

The vessel was built by Singapore’s Keppel and handed over to MODEC in 2017 as the operator’s 12th FPSO delivered to the Brazilian market and the 10th for Petrobras. The firm now has 13 platforms in operation, two FPSOs under construction, scheduled for delivery to Brazil by 2027, and another one in the engineering development phase. 

One of the operator’s gigs in Brazil recently fell through as Enauta walked away from the deal to purchase an FPSO operating in two offshore oil and gas fields it decided to buy from Petrobras in late 2023.

In May, the Japanese player completed the keel laying for the construction of an FPSO hull destined for ExxonMobil’s oil development offshore Guyana. The work, which started in February, was finished weeks ahead of schedule.