FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias begins production in the pre-salt layer

The FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias (Mero 3) began producing oil and gas this Wednesday, October 30, in the Mero field, Libra block, in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin. The unit has the capacity to produce up to 180 thousand barrels of oil and compress up to 12 million cubic meters of gas, all daily. The platform ship will increase Mero’s installed production capacity from 410 thousand to 590 thousand barrels of oil per day.

The FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) unit is part of Mero’s fourth production system and was chartered from MISC. In total, there will be 15 wells, 8 oil producers and 7 water and gas injectors, interconnected to the platform through an underwater infrastructure. The FPSO Pioneiro de Libra and two definitive systems – FPSO Guanabara (Mero 1) and FPSO Sepetiba (Mero 2) – are already operating in the field.

“The FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias has characteristics that are very well suited to Petrobras’ current project, which involves maintaining high levels of production, prioritizing decarbonization technologies and caring for the environment. The FPSO will be the third of its size to be installed in the Mero field in the last 30 months, which will increase its installed capacity to 590 thousand barrels of oil per day in a short period of time”, stated Sylvia Anjos, Petrobras’ Director of Exploration and Production.

The platform will use innovative technologies to increase production, such as HISEP®, in operation from 2028. This equipment will separate the oil and gas at the bottom of the ocean, from where it will reinject the CO2-rich gas into the reservoir. This will relieve the pressure on the surface gas processing plant and reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

Operations at the unitized Mero field are conducted by the Libra Production Sharing Contract consortium members – operated by Petrobras (38.6%), in partnership with Shell Brasil (19.3%), TotalEnergies (19.3%), CNOOC (9.65%), CNPC (9.65%) and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A (PPSA), which, in addition to managing the contract, acts as the Union’s representative in the non-contracted area (3.5%).