(PN) A new wave of developments in the Santos Basin that should start next year creates the expectation of generating new jobs, in addition to enabling the expansion of the use of support vessels. The so-called Stage 4 of the Santos Basin will cover 13 new Petrobras production units in the region, located in the Búzios, Sururu, Sépia, Atapu, Mero, Uirapuru, Três Marias, Sagittario, Aram and Tupi fields. Work should begin in 2023, with the start of implementation of the Mero – Recovery Factor (Mero FR) project. The other platforms will be installed over the following years, until 2028. As the platforms come into operation, a total of more than 2,200 outsourced jobs should be created.
Of this total, 1,494 vacancies will be on chartered FPSOs and 720 on owned FPSOs. The data was presented by Petrobras in the Environmental Impact Report (Rima) of Stage 4. The Mero FR Production Development project will consist of 2 wells, a producing well and an injection well. The project was conceived to capture the opportunity to take advantage of the contract for the FPSO Pioneiro de Libra, which was chartered until 2029 to carry out Long-Term Tests and Early Production Systems in the Libra field, but which should have completed these activities by 2024.
The 13 projects that make up Stage 4 will have around 185 wells, totaling an estimated average production of 133 thousand cubic meters per day of oil and around 14.5 million cubic meters per day of natural gas – which corresponds to the volume of natural gas which will be drained by pipelines.
In addition, during the activities of Stage 4, an increase in the number of support vessels and of berthing in ports that are currently used by other projects in the Santos Basin is expected. This increase will take place gradually as the Phase 4 projects are implemented, being more intense from 2027 onwards. The PSV-type vessel, used for transporting heavy loads, will be the most used to serve the activities in the coming years (2024 and 2029).
For the development of activities, support points located in the coastal region will be used, such as: ports, airports, administrative centers, waste disposal areas, oil receiving terminals, gas treatment units, export pipelines, among others. Some of the structures that will be used are: Rio de Janeiro Port Complex; Niterói Port Complex; Cabo Frio Airport; Jacarepagua Airport; Gas Treatment Unit of Caraguatatuba/SP (UTGCA), through the Rota 1 gas pipeline; Cabiúnas Terminal (TECAB), through the Rota 2 gas pipeline; and the GASLUB Hub (Itaboraí/RJ), through the Rota 3 gas pipeline.
To carry out all the activities of the Stage 4 project, FPSO-type units will be used. The ships are stationary production units that have an oil and gas processing plant, storage tanks for production and allow the transfer of production to another vessel, called a shuttle, which is periodically connected to the FPSO to receive and transport the oil to the terminals. oil. This operation of transferring production to another vessel is called offloading.
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