‘Major’ subsea order for Petrobras’ two giant oil fields goes to SLB-led OneSubsea

Brazilian state-controlled energy heavyweight Petrobras has made a booking with OneSubsea, a company majority-owned by SLB, for subsea production systems that will lend a helping hand in unlocking access to pre-salt reserves at two ultra-deepwater fields located in the prolific Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil.

While the exact value of the deal has not been disclosed, OneSubsea, a subsea technology and solutions joint venture (JV) backed by SLB (70%), Aker Solutions (20%), and Subsea7 (10%), has described the award as a “major contract” for two ultra-deepwater projects offshore Brazil, which was received following a competitive tender.

Thanks to this, OneSubsea, which combines the subsea businesses of SLB and Aker Solutions, will provide its standardized, pre-salt subsea production systems and related services for the second development of the Atapu and Sepia oil fields in the strategically important Santos Basin.

The order covers the Petrobras-standard configured, pre-salt vertical trees, subsea distribution units, subsea control systems, and pipeline systems, alongside related installation, commissioning, and life-of-field services.

Mads Hjelmeland, Chief Executive Officer of OneSubsea, commented: “This award deepens our valued partnership with Petrobras, and we are proud to be supporting the development of such important assets to Brazil.

“Leveraging our proven, locally developed technology platform facilitates on-time delivery and maximizes local content from our Brazilian manufacturing and service facilities. Brazil is a key market for us, and our continued in-country investments are key to support the growth we envisage for the region.”

OneSubsea has highlighted that most of the technology and equipment deployed, including the vertical trees and subsea control systems, will be produced and serviced locally at its facilities in Brazil. According to the subsea technology and solutions provider, these projects add to Petrobras’ material pre-salt investments, enabling the addition of two new floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels: P-84 (Atapu) and P-85 (Sepia).

Each of these two units will have a daily production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day and a processing capacity of 10 million cubic meters of gas per day. Petrobras and its partners in the Atapu and Sépia consortiums made the final investment decision (FID) for the second development phase of the Atapu and Sépia fields at the end of May 2024.

The Atapu field has been producing since 2020 through the FPSO P-70, with a production capacity of 150,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). The second development phase, Atapu-2, will comprise a new-built FPSO of 225,000 bopd capacity. Petrobras owns an interest of 65.7% in the Atapu field, in partnership with TotalEnergies (15%), Shell (16.7%), Petrogal (1.7%), and PPSA (0.9%).

On the other hand, the Sépia field has been producing since 2021 through the FPSO Carioca, with a production capacity of 180,000 bopd. The second development phase, Sépia-2, will also comprise a new-built FPSO of 225,000 bopd capacity. The Brazilian heavyweight has an interest of 55.3% in the Sépia field, in partnership with TotalEnergies, (16.9%), Petronas (12.7%), QatarEnergy (12.7%), and Petrogal (2.4%).

Both new FPSOs, expected to start producing in 2029, have been designed to minimize greenhouse gas emissions through an all-electric configuration and technologies, encompassing waste heat recovery, closed flare, cargo oil tank gas recovery, and variable speed drive for compressors and pumps.

Petrobras is determined to continue its hydrocarbon growth story in Brazil and elsewhere as confirmed within its strategic plan for 2024-28. Following the startup of Mero-2 in late 2023, more oil and gas projects are in the Brazilian giant’s pipeline, including the upcoming startups of Mero-3 in 2024 and Mero-4 in 2025.

The FPSO pair for the second phase of Atapu and Sépia developments will be built by Seatrium, due to an $8.16-billion contract for the two all-electric FPSOs, which are expected to incorporate technologies aimed at cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint by 30% per barrel of oil produced.

The latest award from Petrobras extends OneSubsea’s global backlog, which recently got a boost thanks to a deal BP awarded to Subsea Integration Alliance, a strategic alliance between SLB’s OneSubsea and Subsea7, at an oil and gas field in the NorthSea, which will be tied back to an existing platform on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).