Petrobras closes down four platforms due to oil leak

Four Petrobras’ oil platforms offshore Brazil have been shut down on Friday (April 24) after a leak was detected on a pipeline connecting them.

According to Reuters, the leak was detected in the Camorim field, 16 kilometers off the coast of the city of Aracajú, coming from the pipeline that is linking PCM-5 and PCM-6 production platforms.

These two platforms were subsequently shut down as well as two others, namely PCM-8 and PCM-9. The four platforms together produce 400 barrels of oil and 60,000 cubic meters of natural gas a day.

Stoessel Chagas, director of the Sindipetro-ES, which represents Petrobras offshore oil workers in Brazil’s Alagoas and Sergipe state told Reuters that production from the platforms was expected to resume on Saturday.

“The little leaks from these platforms are constant due to the lack of maintenance,” said Stoessel Chagas. “We joke that there is more clamp than pipeline” in the system, he said.

Offshore Energy Today Staff