The first of 11 new oil platforms to be installed by Brazilian state-owned oil giant Petrobras arrived in Brazil and will soon be deployed in the pre-salt area off the coast of São Paulo State, according to reports.
The new Chinese-built FPSO (floating unit for production, storage and transfer), Sepetiba, will operate in the deep waters of the Santos Basin, Brazil’s largest sedimentary basin and home to more than 70 percent of Petrobras’ oil and gas production.
FPSO Sepetiba has a daily production capacity of up to 180,000 barrels of oil and 12 million cubic metres of natural gas. It will be the second full-size platform installed in Mero after the February 2022 installation of FPSO Guanabara.
[See more: China ships a US$1 billion oil production vessel to Brazil]
The Mero field is currently operated by Petrobras, in partnership with Shell Brasil, TotalEnergies, CNPC and CNOOC, with Pré-Sal Petróleo representing the Brazilian government in non-contracted areas.
Mero is Brazil’s third largest oil field after Tupi and Búzios, two of the largest deep-water oil fields in the world, also located in the massive Santos Basin. Petrobras plans to install 11 new platforms in the Santos Basin by 2027, when production in this area is expected to reach 2.4 million barrels of oil per day.
Six FPSOs will go to Búzios, three to Mero – including Sepetiba – and one each to Albacora and Jubarte. Once they reach production, the giant pre-salt reserves in the basin would make Brazil one of the world’s largest crude exporters.
