FPSO eating up the miles to Brazil while Petrobras brings production start date forward

Brazilian state-owned energy giant Petrobras has moved up the timeline for the start of operations concerning its new floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel destined to work off the coast of Brazil.

Following a grand naming ceremony held at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry (Shanghai) Shipyard in China on April 3, 2024, Yinson Production, which secured a 22.5-year lease operation, and maintenance deal, worth up to $5.3 billion, with Petrobras for the FPSO Maria Quitéria in February 2022, revealed the vessel’s departure for Brazil on May 7, 2024.

While the FPSO is still en route to Brazil, Petrobras expects it to arrive in the third quarter of this year at its destined location related to the Parque das Baleias integrated project, formed by the Jubarte, Baleia Anã, Cachalote, Caxaréu, Pirambú, and Mangangá fields.

Furthermore, the Brazilian energy giant has disclosed a new start-up schedule for the FPSO Maria Quitéria, which is now slated to begin operations in the last quarter of 2024, advancing the timeline from PE 24-28, initially planned to come online in 2025.

Once it comes to Brazil, the FPSO will operate in the Jubarte field, located in the Campos Basin’s pre-salt layer, off Espírito Santo’s coast. This field, which lies at a water depth of approximately 1,300 meters, was discovered in 2001 in the northern Campos Basin, around 80 kilometers off the coast of Anchieta, Espírito Santo, Brazil. 

With a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil and a processing capacity of 5 million cubic meters of gas, the FPSO Maria Quitéria has been equipped with decarbonization technologies such as a combined cycle power generation system and FGRU (closed flare).

At the end of May 2024, another FPSO arrived in Brazil to be deployed at Petrobras’  third-largest oil field in the Santos Basin. The Brazilian giant plans to start up 14 FPSOs from 2024 to 2028 in line with its ‘Strategic Plan 2024-2028‘ showcasing the firm’s intention to spend $102 billion over the next five years, with $11.5 billion earmarked for projects propelling its decarbonization journey forward.

To turn its plans into reality, the company recently confirmed a final investment decision (FID) for the second development phase of the Atapu and Sépia fields and hired Seatrium on two contracts, valued at approximately S$11 billion ($8.15 billion), to construct the FPSOs P-84 and P-85.