Offshore staff
(Brazil)- Brazil's President Luiz da Silva started operations as planned in an inaugural ceremony aboard theP-50 FPSO on the Albacora Leste field in the Campos basin. The operator Petrobras marks this as an important step in Brazil's attaining self-sufficiency in oil production.
As reported earlier this month, once the P-50 reaches its full production capacity of 180,000 b/d, it will render the self-sufficiency process sustainable. The FPSO will additionally be capable of compressing 6 MMcm/d of natural gas and storing 1.6 MMbbl of oil.
TheP-50, which was converted from the hull of the Felipe Camarao vessel by the Jurong shipyard, is 337 m long and 55 m tall, equivalent to the height of an 18-story building.
Albacora Leste, located 120 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state in 800-2,000m of water, is not the only offshore field in the news for Petrobras. The company is also scheduling start-up of three other platforms in 2006: theP-34, which will produce 60,000 b/d in the Jubarte field in the Espírito Santo basin; the SSP-300, which will produce 20,000 b/d in the Piranema field in Sergipe; and the 100,000 b/d FPSO Capixaba in Espírito Santo's Golfinho field.
These platforms will allow Petrobras to reach an average daily production rate of 1.9 MMb/d in 2006, surpassing the country's consumption of 1.8 MMb/d and making the country a net exporter, according to a company statement.
Petrobras noted that in today's market environment of $70/bbl oil and tight global supplies, oil self-sufficiency is an important milestone.
04/25/2006
