Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) has issued an environmental approval for Petrobras to use 13 new FPSOs in the Santos Basin pre-salt area.
The Floating Production Storage and Offloading units are to be installed in Block BM-S-9, BM-S-11 and in the Cessao Onerosa region, located between 200 and 300 km away from the coast, in the pre-salt Santos Basin by 2017.
According to Petrobras’ plans, the first of these FPSOs, the FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela, to be installed in the Sapinhoá North field, is expected to start operations later this year.
IBAMA reveals that, according to Petrobras, the whole project has an estimated cost of $50.6 billion.