Petrobras kicks off production from Atapu field off Brazil

Petrobras has started the production of oil and natural gas from the shared deposit of Atapu, through P-70 FPSO, located in the eastern portion of the Santos Basin pre-salt, near the Búzios field offshore Brazil.

Announcing the start of production on Thursday, Petrobras said that Atapu would contribute to the growth of production in the pre-salt, which is becoming increasingly relevant for the company.

The P-70 own platform, the fifth FPSO of the series of replicants, has the capacity to process up to 150,000 barrels of oil daily and treat up to 6 million m³ of natural gas.

The unit will operate about 200 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, in 2,300 m of water depth, with a forecast of the interconnection of up to eight producing and eight injection wells.

The unitization process of the Atapu shared deposit, which comprises the fields Oeste de Atapu, Atapu and a portion of the Union’s non-contracted area, was completed in September 2019. 

Petrobras holds an 89.257 per cent of the rights to the deposit in partnership with Shell (4.258 per cent), Total (3.832 per cent), Petrogal Brasil (1.703 per cent) and PPSA, representing the Union (0.950 per cent).

Arnaud Breuillac, President Exploration & Production at Total, said: “The ramp-up of Iara’s production reflects Total’s growth strategy in the Brazilian deep offshore, where the group focuses on giant projects that produce barrels of oil at a competitive cost, resilient in the face of oil price volatility.

“The group production in the country should reach 150,000 barrels of oil per day by 2025 thanks to ongoing developments on the Iara, Mero and Lapa projects”.