Platform will be decisive for expanding pre-salt production
FPSO Guanabara. (Credit: MODEC / Petrobras)
Petrobras informs that the platform vessel Guanabara has arrived at the Mero field, located in the Libra Block, in the Santos Basin pre-salt. The platform, an FPSO (floating oil production, storage and transfer unit), will be the first definitive system to operate in Mero, the third largest pre-salt field (behind Búzios and Tupi).
In the lease, the unit will be connected to the wells, subsea equipment and will carry out final tests in the coming months, before starting production, scheduled for the first half of this year. The FPSO Guanabara was converted and integrated into the DSIC shipyard, in Dalian – China. After leaving China, it stopped for about 2 months at the Drydocks World Dubai (DDWD) shipyard in Dubai, where commissioning activities were carried out.
With the capacity to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and process 12 million m3 of gas, the FPSO Guanabara will be the first in a series of four definitive platforms scheduled for the Mero field within the horizon of our 2022 Strategic Plan. -2026. The unit will be installed more than 150 km from the coast, in a water depth that reaches 1,930 meters, equivalent to four times the height of Morro do Pão de Açúcar.
The platform is 172 meters high, equivalent to 4.6 statues of Christ the Redeemer, and is 332 meters long, or three football fields. In addition, it has a power generation capacity of 100 megawatts, enough to supply a city of 330,000 inhabitants.
Impulse for innovative solutions
“The development of the Mero field will be decisive for us to maintain the accelerated pace of pre-salt production. Furthermore, it reflects our strategy of focusing on deepwater assets, which combine substantial reserves, high productivity and resilience even in low oil price scenarios. Mero also enshrines the integrated work with our partners and suppliers, in addition to promoting innovative and sustainable solutions, which have expanded the technological limits of the world oil industry”, said the director of Exploration and Production at Petrobras, Fernando Borges.
One of these innovative solutions in the development of production in this field is an unprecedented technology, focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the productivity and efficiency of the project: the HISEP®, equipment that will remove excess gas from the seabed. rich in CO2 present in Mero. The technology is a Petrobras patent, with the potential to increase production and field efficiency, in addition to reducing costs and gas emissions. The forecast is that the HISEP® will go into operation connected to the third definitive platform scheduled for the Mero field.
The Libra Consortium is operated by Petrobras (40%), in partnership with Shell Brasil (20%), TotalEnergies (20%), CNPC (10%) and CNOOC Limited (10%), with Pre-Salt as its manager. Petroleo SA (PPSA).
Source: Company Press Release