Brazilian FPSO comes back online once again

Brazilian oil and gas player Enauta has restarted production from a floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, working on a field off Brazil. 

Back in July 2023, Enauta identified that the repetitive failures were concentrated in the subsea pumping electrical system adopted for the FPSO Petrojarl I, thus, the firm temporarily halted the Atlanta field’s production. Once commissioning and tests of new components were performed in August, the company expected production to resume by October 2023.

However, the timeline changed later, as the first pumping set was expected to be ready for installation by the last week of October, subject to support vessel availability and sea conditions. As a result, the production was targeted to resume by November 2023.

According to Enauta, the production, which resumed on November 5, post-reinstallation of the subsea pumping equipment at one of the wells, should be maintained at an average of 12,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) for a longer period, below its peak capacity of over 15,000 bbl/d due to limiting factors at the FPSO. In addition, the production from the other two wells is expected in the coming 30 and 60 days, respectively.

Enauta is also working on replacing the FPSO Petrojarl I with the FPSO Atlanta, which the company bought for Atlanta’s Full Development System (FDS) in 2022. In October 2023, the FPSO Atlanta concluded its second dry docking and painting, reaching an 85% level of the Phase 1 development. Several final items were also contracted to support the start of production, including support vessels for the platform anchoring at the location.

As provided for in the environmental license, the FPSO will travel from its commissioning in the United Arab Emirates directly to Atlanta’s production site. The first oil from FPSO Atlanta is scheduled for August 2024 originally with six wells, reaching ten wells in 2029.

Located in block BS-4 in the Santos Basin, at a 1,500-meter water depth, the Atlanta field is operated by Enauta Energia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, which also has a 100% interest in this asset. The field has been producing since 2018.