Petrobras produces first oil at P-68 FPSO offshore Brazil

Brazil’s state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras has started oil and natural gas production at P-68 FPSO in the Berbigão field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt offshore Brazil. 

Sembcorp Marine’s Brazilian shipyard, Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz, completed the P-68 project for Petrobras and the FPSO left the shipyard in September 2019. The hull was built at the Rio Grande Shipyard, in Rio Grande do Sul, and the module integration and commissioning of the unit were carried out at the Jurong Aracruz Shipyard.

Following P-67, in the Lula field, and P-76 and P-77, in the Buzios field, P-68 is the fourth unit to start up in 2019, Petrobras said on Thursday.

With a capacity to process up to 150,000 barrels of oil per day and compress up to 6 million m³ of natural gas, P-68 will contribute to Petrobras’ production growth, particularly in 2020, with new wells being interconnected in the Berbigão field and the interconnection of wells in Sururu field.

The platform, an FPSO unit, is located approximately 230 km off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, at a water depth of 2,280 meters. The project provides for the interconnection of P-68 to ten production wells and seven injector wells. The oil production offloading will be made by shuttle tankers, while gas production will be transported through the pre-salt gas pipeline routes.

Berbigão and Sururu fields are located in the BM-S-11A (Iara license), operated by Petrobras (42.5%), in partnership with Shell (25%), Total (22.5%), and Petrogal Brasil (10%). Reservoirs of these fields also extend to areas under the Transfer of Rights Agreement (100% Petrobras) and, after the unitization process, they will compose the joint reservoir of Berbigão and Sururu.

In a separate statement on Friday, Total said that the FPSO P-68 was first of the two FPSOs on the license. The second FPSO, the P-70, is expected to come on stream in 2020. Each unit has a capacity of 150,000 barrels of oil per day.

“First oil from Iara is a new milestone for Total in Brazil. It increases our share of production from the highly prolific pre-salt area, adding to current output from the Total-operated Lapa field, and the extended well tests under way on the Mero field,” said Arnaud Breuillac, President Exploration & Production at Total.

Shell also confirmed the startup of oil and gas production at P-68 FPSO in Brazil.

Wael Sawan, Shell’s Upstream Director, said: “It has been a banner year for Shell Brasil. From winning new acreage to setting records in drilling and production, the country continues to solidify its place as a heartland in our Upstream portfolio.”