Sépia FPSO approaching Rio

Offshore staff

RIO DE JANEIRO – Petrobras expects the FPSO Carioca to reach the shipyard in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro this week, having departed the Dalian shipyard in China last November.

On arrival, integration and commissioning activities will be completed. The platform will be installed in the Sépia field in the presalt Santos basin.

Production should begin in mid-year: the facility will have a processing capacity of 180,000 b/d of oil and 6 MMcm/d of gas.

Petrobras’ 4Q 2020 production set a record of 2.28 MMb/d of oil and NGLs and 2.84 MMboe/, including gas.

Output from the company’s presalt fields was 1.86 MMboe/d, representing 66% of total production. The BUZ-12 well on in the Búzios field was the strongest performer, averaging 52,400 boe/d last year.

Post-salt production in 4Q was 4.3% lower than in 3Q due to maintenance stoppages at the P-18, P-20, and P-35 platforms serving the Marlim field in the Campos basin.

Shallow-water output off Brazil was 13,000 b/d lower due to the divestments of the Baúna field and the Pampo/Enchova Clusters.

Other highlights from 4Q were:

• Increased production at the P-74, P-75, P-76, and P-77 platforms in the Búzios field following expansion of the oil and gas processing capacity, due to temporary generation energy gaps and gas compression availability and high well productivity
• Fewer interventions than anticipated to deal with corrosion caused by CO₂ in subsea gas injection pipelines, helped by the development of new inspection tools and technologies
• A lower than expected production decline at the Tupi and Sapinhoá fields, due to improved reservoir performance of the reservoirs
• Improved production efficiency and optimization of production maintenance stoppages on the platforms.

In addition, Petrobras has received proposals from Keppel, Samsung, and Daewoo to construct the FPSOs P-78 and P-79, which will operate at the Búzios field. Each will have the capacity to process 180,000 b/d of oil and 7.2 MMcm/d of gas, and are expected to start operating in 2025. The proposals are expected to be approved in the first half of the year.

02/03/2021