FPSO Almirante Tamandare breaks production record soon after starting production at the Buzios 7 Field

Aug. 15 (PN) FPSO Almirante Tamandare (Búzios 7 Project) reached yesterday (14) the highest production flow rate per unit in Petrobras’ history, three months ahead of schedule, November of this year: 225,000 barrels per day. The FPSO began operations in February in the Buzios field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt layer. The record confirms expectations that the field will soon become Petrobras’ largest production field. Buzios is the second-largest field in Brazil in terms of production volume, behind only the Tupi field. The Buzios superfield, discovered in 2010, is gigantic in size, with a thickness equivalent to the height of Sugarloaf Mountain and an area twice the size of Guanabara Bay. The field’s magnitude has also led Petrobras to seek larger production units.

Renata Baruzzi, Petrobras’ Director of Engineering, Technology, and Innovation noted that the average global platform capacity is lower, around 150,000 barrels per day of oil and 10 million cubic meters of gas. “We’ve reached a new level of productivity, only possible in fields like Buzios. At this unit, in addition to high capacity, we’ve focused on achieving greater efficiency and decarbonization technologies.” Among the technologies mentioned is the closed flare, which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. There are also heat recovery technologies, which reduce the unit’s additional energy demand. The FPSO received the Sustainability Seal from the ABS certification body, and the Buzios 7 Project, as a whole, is competing for innovation and excellence in management practices for the OTC Brazil Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies, from the Offshore Technology Conference, one of the world’s most important technology events focused on the offshore oil and gas sector, held annually in Houston, United States. The project includes, in addition to the Almirante Tamandaré platform, all subsea infrastructure, such as pipelines and wells.

Sylvia Anjos, Director of Exploration and Production, highlighted the conditions that contributed to the record. “The technical excellence of our personnel, combined with the readiness of resources and installed equipment, contributed decisively to this record. Another important factor, besides volume, is the quality of the oil from the Buzios field, which has substantial reserves of light crude.” The company expects to surpass the 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) mark in this field by 2030. The FPSO Almirante Tamandare, chartered from SBM Offshore, is the first 225,000 bpd unit installed in Brazil. The Buzios field has five more platforms contracted and under construction to enter production in the coming years, three of which will be high-capacity. The Buzios 7 Project foresees eight producing wells, and the 225,000 barrels per day (bpd) mark was reached with five of these wells. The Buzios consortium is comprised of Petrobras as operator, PPSA, manager of the production-sharing contracts, and Chinese partners CNOOC and CNODC.