SBM Offshore’s new Brazil-bound FPSO sets sail from China toward Petrobras’ giant oil field

Brazilian state-owned energy giant Petrobras is looking forward to welcoming the fifth addition to its huge oil field off the coast of Brazil once a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which left a Chinese shipyard to embark on a miles-long journey toward the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, arrives to achieve first oil next year. The FPSO is owned by the Netherlands-based SBM Offshore, a provider of the design, construction, installation, and operation of offshore floating facilities.

Thanks to a 22.5-year lease and operation contract with Petrobras, SBM Offshore’s FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão was booked for work at the Mero field as the fifth definitive system installed on the field in the Santos Basin, approximately 160 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. 

The unitized Mero field is governed by the Libra production sharing agreement (PSA). The Libra consortium is operated by Petrobras (38.6%), in partnership with Shell Brasil (19.3%), TotalEnergies (19.3%), CNPC (9.65%), CNOOC (9.65%), and Pré-Sal Petróleo (PPSA) (3.5%), representing the government in the non-contracted area.

Sylvia Couto dos Anjos, Petrobras’ E&P Director, commented: “The FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão will be the fifth platform installed at the Mero field, with production expected to begin in mid-2025. It will join the FPSOs Pioneiro de Libra, Guanabara—the largest producer platform in operation in Brazil—and Sepetiba and Marechal Duque de Caxias. Since 2022, we have started producing one large system per year at Mero, demonstrating the capability of our teams and the quality of this world-class asset.”

The FPSO, which left China on December 16 to head toward the Mero oil field in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, is on its way to Brazil, where it is expected to begin operations in 2025, increasing the field’s current production capacity by 31% to reach 770,000 barrels daily.

With a production capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day and a compression capacity of 12 million cubic meters of gas daily, the FPSO will join the other four units operating at Mero: Pioneiro de Libra, Guanabara, Sepetiba, and Marechal Duque de Caxias.

The FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão is designed to receive the high-pressure separator (HISEP) technology, patented by Petrobras to enable the subsea separation of extracted oil and the associated gas, rich in CO2, and reinjected directly into the reservoir from the seabed. This allows the unit to operate with greater energy efficiency and curtail environmental impact and emissions intensity.
 
Renata Baruzzi, Petrobras’ Director of Engineering, Technology, and Innovation, highlighted: “Mero presents many technical challenges for our teams, but we are motivated to operate in the Santos Basin and lead major FPSO projects like the Alexandre de Gusmão, together with our partners, in one of the most promising offshore regions globally.”

The start of the FPSO’s voyage to Brazil comes shortly after Petrobras completed the anchoring activities for another unit offshore Brazil.

The firm is also working on several projects outside Brazil, as confirmed by the results of a recent gas discovery off the coast of Colombia, for which the company made space in its ‘2025-2029 Business Plan.’