Another FPSO put into production off Brazil

A second of two floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels that are part of Petrobras’ revitalisation project in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil has started production.

The FPSO Anita Garibaldi MV33 arrived in Brazil in January 2023, where its final commissioning was expected to proceed in a shipyard in the state of Espírito Santo. The vessel left the DSIC Marine Yard shipyard in the city of Dalian, China, and embarked on its journey to Brazil on 6 October 2022. The FPSO was built by MODEC.

According to Petrobras, the FPSO Anita Garibaldi was put into production on 16 August 2023, as the second unit since May 2023, which will operate in the post-salt and pre-salt of the Marlim and Voador fields. The first of two FPSOs that are part of this project, which came online in May 2023, was the FPSO Anna Nery.

These two FPSOs are planned to be connected to 75 wells to extend the production from the fields’ deposits until 2048. The two FPSOs have a joint production capacity of up to 150,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and a processing capacity of up to 11 million m³ of gas. The vessels will replace nine platforms that operated in the Campos Basin: P-18, P-19, P-20, P-26, P-32, P-33, P-35, P-37, and P-47, which will be decommissioned.

Jean Paul Prates, CEO of Petrobras, commented: “The Anita Garibaldi and Anna Nery platforms, which also started operating in 2023, will be key to increasing the longevity of the Campos Basin and expanding its production. In parallel, they are equipped with state-of-the-art technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combining efficiency and decarbonisation.”

With a capacity to produce up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), the FPSO Anita Garibaldi can process up to 7 million m3 of gas per day. By reducing the number of platforms in operation in the two fields, greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by more than 50 per cent.

The Marlim and Voador revitalisation project, together with complementary development projects and revitalisation projects of other fields, is expected to contribute to increasing the Campos Basin production from about 565,000 boed to 920,000 boed in 2027. 

“After more than 40 years since it started producing, the Campos Basin continues to renew itself and play a strategic role for the country, launching new projects and generating new opportunities,” added Prates.