Petrobras mulling 12th FPSO for Búzios field

Brazilian federal oil company Petrobras is analyzing hiring a 12th FPSO for the Búzios field, the project's executive manager, Wagner Victer, told a press conference on Friday.

Located in the Santos basin pre-salt, Búzios currently produces 648,000b/d of oil through five platforms: P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77 and Almirante Barroso. 

And there are six other FPSOs contracted for the field: Almirante Tamandaré, P-78, P-79, P-80, P-82 and P-83.

According to Victer, Petrobras recently obtained a license from environmental regulator Ibama to expand Almirante Barroso's oil production by 20,000b/d. 

The executive said the field should reach 1Mboe/d (million barrels of oil equivalent per day) in the third quarter of 2025. The 1Mb/d of oil milestone would only occur when the Almirante Tamandaré FPSO starts operating. 

"We’ll try to bring forward the operation of this FPSO, if possible, to this year," said Victer. 

Petrobras' current business plan foresees first oil from the production unit in 2025. 

The state-run firm’s CEO Magda Chambriard said Búzios will go down in history. 

"It's by far the best field in Brazil. We have five more contracted FPSOs coming and we're going to contract more for Búzios," she said. 

NATURAL GAS

Victer also said Petrobras is analyzing ways to increase the flow of gas from the Búzios platforms. 

According to the executive, the start-up of the Rota 3 gas pipeline this quarter will result in a reduction of around 10% in the levels of gas reinjection. 

Today, Petrobras reinjects more than half of the gas produced to recover more oil and because of infrastructure bottlenecks. 

"We're not going to change our philosophy because of the availability of a new gas route. The oil production curve will not be affected," Victer said.