Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras has reached plateau at the P-75 floating production, storage and offloading vessel at the giant Buzios pre-salt field in the Santos basin, with one well flowing at record rates.

The P-75 started operations at Buzios in November 2018 and last month topped output with just three wells on stream, Petrobras exploration and production director Carlos Alberto Pereira de Oliveira said.

The P-75 has capacity to produce 150,000 barrels per day of oil and 6 million cubic metres per day of natural gas, which suggests each well is producing about 50,000 bpd on average.

However, it is understood that one of the wells linked to the P-75 is producing at a remarkable rate of 60,000 bpd.

The previous record was achieved in September 2018 at the Mero field via a single-well test that produced 42,700 bpd.

Petrobras has three other FPSOs installed at Buzios. The P-76 and P-77 are still ramping-up, but the P-74 produced 161,000 bpd in July, higher than the floater’s nominal capacity of 150,000 bpd, after Petrobras made some adjustments to the plant parameters to maximise output per well.

Petrobras was affected by commissioning delays at gas processing plants on the P-75, P-76 and P-77 in June, but production from Buzios is now expected to soar with the hook-up of new wells.

The P-75 was producing only 44,600 bpd from two wells in June when output was still constrained while Petrobras was stabilising the complex systems and equipment to handle large volumes of gas contaminants such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide.

A fifth floater – the Almirante Barroso FPSO – was recently awarded to Japan’s Modec and is due to enter operations in 2022. Upstream understands Petrobras will likely tender for a sixth unit for Buzios next year.

Buzios is one of six fields covered by a 2010 Transfer of Rights (ToR) agreement under which Petrobras can produce up to 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, including 3.058 billion boe from Buzios.

The field will be the star of the upcoming mega auction featuring surplus volumes in the ToR area that is scheduled for 6 November.

The Brazilian government is asking for a fixed record-breaking signature bonus of 68.194 billion reais ($18 billion) for Buzios, and Petrobras has already exercised preferential bidding rights for the area in the round.

Online

Record flow rates push Petrobras to early plateau at P-75 FPSO