MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

FPSO Sepetiba begins production at Petrobras’ third largest oil field off Brazil

The Mero field on the Libra block is located some 180 kilometers off the coast of Rio; FPSO Sepetiba has been chartered by Petrobras on a 22.5-year lease

Oil and gas giant Petrobras has started production from a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel at its giant Mero oil field in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. The third production unit at the field, out of a total of five, since two are yet to be installed.

The Mero field on the Libra block is located more than 180 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, and the FPSO Sepetiba has been chartered by Petrobras on a 22.5-year lease and operation deal since December 2019 with SBM Offshore, which is also responsible for its construction.

Sanctioned in June 2019, the second development phase, or Mero-2, includes the FPSO Sepetiba with a production capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) and a compression capacity of up to 12 million cubic meters of gas. Thanks to Mero-2, the Mero field will reach a production capacity of 410,000 b/d. Two additional development phases of 180,000 b/d each, Mero-3 and Mero-4, are currently under construction, with start-ups expected by 2025.

Furthermore, the FPSO Sepetiba is part of a production system that encompasses the drilling and preparation for completion of eight producer wells and eight water and gas injection wells being interconnected to the unit. The vessel has been designed for zero routine flaring to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, with the associated gas re-injected into the reservoir.

In addition, the FPSO comes with innovative technologies to boost production efficiency and enable carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) activity, where CO2-rich gas is re-injected into the reservoir to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Mero field produces around 230,000 barrels of oil and 15 million m3 of gas every day. This is a unitized field, operated by Petrobras (38.6%), in partnership with Shell Brasil (19.3%), TotalEnergies (19.3%), CNPC (9.65%), CNOOC (9.65%) and Pré-Sal Petróleo (PPSA) (3.5%), as the government’s representative in the non-contracted area.

Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, commented: “The production start-up of Mero-2 is a new milestone for TotalEnergies in Brazil, a key growth area for the company. With its vast resources and world-class productivity, the Mero development delivers low-cost and low-emission oil production, in line with the strategy of our company.”

The Mero field is currently also home to the FPSO Pioneiro de Libra, with the capacity to produce up to 50,000 bpd, operating the early production system (SPA 2), and the FPSO Guanabara, with the capacity to produce up to 180,000 bpd, which reached its production peak of 179,000 barrels of oil per day in February 2023, about eight months after the first oil.

Mero is the third largest field in Brazil, after Tupi and Búzios, also located in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin. Petrobras revealed plans in 2023 to put 11 additional FPSO units into operation in the pre-salt layer offshore Brazil by 2027, which are anticipated to boost production, enabling it to reach 2.4 million boe.