The fifth FPSO has arrived at the Petrobras-operated Mero field development in the presalt Santos Basin offshore Brazil.
Petrobras has charted the Alexandre de Gusmão, built at the Cosco Shipping (Qidong) yard in China, from SBM Offshore for 22.5 years. Operations are set to start between the second and third quarter this year.
The platform is designed to produce 180,000 bbl/d of oil and compress 12 MMcm/d of gas. At peak, it should lift production from Mero by 31% to 770,000 bbl/d.
It is also prepared for operations of Petrobras’ patented HISEP (High Pressure Separator) technology. This enables subsea separation of the produced oil and CO2-rich associated gas, with the latter reinjected directly into the reservoir from the seabed.
Currently the FPSOs Pioneiro de Libra, Sepetiba, Marechal Duque de Caxias and Guanabara are in service at Mero, located in 2,100 m water depth and 180 km from Rio de Janeiro State.
Petrobras operates the surrounding Libra production sharing agreement concession, in partnership with Shell, TotalEnergies, CNOOC, CNPC and Pré-Sal Petróleo.
