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

The Marechal Duque de Caxias platform vessel, installed in the Mero field, in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, reached peak production yesterday, May 19, with 180 thousand barrels of oil per day (bpd). The ramp-up – the period between the first extraction and the moment when the unit reaches its maximum planned capacity – lasted 201 days. The unit, an FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading unit), began production on October 30 of last year. The platform is located approximately 180 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, anchored at a water depth of 2,000 meters.

In total, the unit will have 15 wells: eight oil producers and seven water and gas injectors, interconnected to the platform through an underwater infrastructure. The FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias is the third platform ship of this size installed in Mero in the last 30 months. In addition to the unit, the FPSOs Pioneiro de Libra, Guanabara and Sepetiba are also operating in the field.

“Thanks to the commitment of our teams and the adoption of new technologies, we were able to obtain excellent results in the ramp-up of the unit. The Marechal Duque de Caxias platform has characteristics that are very well suited to Petrobras’ current project of maintaining high levels of production and using decarbonization technologies,” says Sylvia Anjos, the company’s Exploration and Production Director.

“The platform will be the first to use, starting in 2028, HISEP (High Pressure Separation) technology, which represents a major advance in offshore production, as it allows the separation of gas and oil at the bottom of the ocean. Through this system, gas with a high CO2 content is reinjected directly into the reservoir from the seabed, significantly reducing emissions and optimizing oil production in the FPSO”, says Libra’s Executive Manager, Bruno Moczydlower.

With this new platform vessel reaching a capacity of 180,000 bopd, the field’s production potential exceeds 590,000 bopd. Mero is a unitized field, operated by Petrobras (38.6%), in partnership with Shell Brasil (19.3%), TotalEnergies (19.3%), CNPC (9.65%), CNOOC (9.65%) and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A (PPSA) (3.5%), as the contract manager and representative of the Union in the non-contracted area.