Búzios field breaks its own record, producing 1.1 million bpd

On June 23, the Búzios field, located in the Santos Basin pre-salt, reached a record average daily production of 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, surpassing the 1-million mark achieved in October 2025.

As the country’s largest field in terms of production and reserve volume, Búzios accounts for approximately one-third of all oil production operated by Petrobras in Brazil (including partners). When considering only the company’s share (working interest), the field represents nearly half of Petrobras’s total production.

“This record marks an important phase of production ramp-up at Búzios, which is set to grow even further. We continue to connect new wells and increase production at the P-78 and P-79 platforms. Búzios is Petrobras’s most promising field and will break record after record,” said Magda Chambriard, President of Petrobras.

Eight platforms
Búzios produces via eight units: the P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77, P-78, and P-79 platforms, and the FPSOs Almirante Barroso and Almirante Tamandaré—the latter having the country’s highest production capacity at 270,000 barrels per day.

The P-78 and P-79 platforms—the two most recent additions to the field—are currently ramping up production to reach their maximum capacities of 180,000 barrels of oil per day.

In total, 12 FPSOs will operate in the Búzios field. The P-80, P-82, and P-83 FPSOs are still under construction. …and the Búzios 12 unit is currently out for tender.

“We have managed to accelerate production at Búzios and contribute to achieving records like this through management strategies, engineering, and innovative technologies. These allow the units to leave the shipyards earlier and arrive sooner at the field—which is also prepared in advance to receive them,” highlights Renata Baruzzi, Petrobras’s Director of Engineering, Technology, and Innovation.

The Búzios Giant
Boasting the country’s largest reserves, the Búzios field contains Brazil’s most productive wells, located more than 2,000 meters deep on the seabed.

The thickness of its reservoir matches the height of Sugarloaf Mountain, and its surface area is more than double that of Guanabara Bay.

“Búzios wells have extremely high productivity due to the quality and great thickness of the reservoir rock. It is a rock with high permeability and porosity, containing high-API-gravity oil; this facilitates a strong flow of oil from the rock into the well,” explains Sylvia Anjos, Petrobras’s Director of Exploration and Production.

Permo-porosity combines the properties of porosity and permeability, which relate to the capacity of rock or soil to store and transmit fluids such as oil or gas.

Búzios is the second Petrobras field to surpass the production milestone of 1 million barrels per day. The first was Tupi, also located in the Santos Basin pre-salt region.

The Búzios consortium includes Petrobras (operator), Chinese partner companies CNOOC and CNODC, and PPSA, the company that manages production-sharing contracts.