Alexandre de Gusmão FPSO reaches peak production in the pre-salt

Aug. 20 – Alexandre de Gusmão FPSO, the fifth to be installed in the Mero field in the Santos Basin pre-salt, reached peak production, at 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). Mero is the third largest producing field in Brazil, after Búzios and Tupi.
 
“Each unit that reaches the maximum production level envisaged in the project not only contributes to the company’s results, but also confirms that major technical challenges have been overcome and that the strategies we have adopted are proving successful,” says Petrobras’ Director of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Renata Baruzzi.
 
The FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) unit, chartered from SBM Offshore, is initially planned to be connected to 12 wells: six oil producers and six alternating water or gas injectors. Currently, five oil production wells and three injection wells are already connected.
 
In addition to the Alexandre de Gusmão FPSO, the Pioneiro de Libra, Guanabara, Sepetiba and Marechal Duque de Caxias FPSOs are operating in the field.
 
“The Mero asset averaged production of approximately 740,000 bpd in the second quarter of 2026, before the Alexandre de Gusmão reached peak production. The unit reaching peak production shows that we remain firmly on track to increase the operational efficiency of our assets,” says Petrobras’ Director of Exploration and Production, Sylvia Anjos.
 
The Mero field is implementing the world’s largest seismic monitoring project, PRM (Permanent Reservoir Monitoring), a subsea infrastructure consisting of an extensive network of sensors and optical instruments.  The PRM aims to optimize Mero’s production management and maximize oil recovery from the reservoirs. It will also receive HISEP® (High Pressure Separation), a Petrobras-patented technology currently undergoing qualification that enables subsea separation of the produced oil from the associated CO₂-rich gas, which is reinjected directly into the reservoir.
 
Operations at the unitized Mero field are conducted by the Petrobras-operated consortium, in partnership with Shell Brasil, TotalEnergies, CNPC, CNOOC and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA), as manager of the production-sharing agreement and representative of the Brazilian Federal Government.