The Búzios field, located in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, about 180 kms off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, reached the record of 800,000 barrels of oil produced daily on Feb 24. Búzios, which began operating in 2018, is the second field in terms of production volume in the country, behind only the Tupi field.
The historic milestone was reached after the arrival of the sixth FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading unit) at the field, the Almirante Tamandaré platform vessel, which began operations on February 15. Five other units are installed at the site: platforms P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77 and Almirante Barroso.
'This major production milestone is the result, above all, of the tireless efforts of teams from different areas of Petrobras. The company is committed to producing sustainably, seeking to apply new technologies. We are aware of the responsibility we have in providing energy to help move the country forward. Therefore, we celebrate this record, aware that we need to continue on this path, developing our reserves and seeking new exploratory frontiers,' says Petrobras CEO Magda Chambriard.
Capacity increase in sight
With the arrival of Almirante Tamandaré, the largest installation of its kind in Brazil, the potential of the Búzios Field increases even further. The FPSO arrived in Brazil in October, after leaving the CMHI shipyard in China in July. The platform is the first unit in Brazil with the capacity to produce up to 225,000 barrels of oil and process 12 million cubic meters of gas per day.
'With the launch of FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, our expectation is to reach a new daily production milestone in Búzios in a short period of time: 1 million barrels. Furthermore, in the near future, with new units planned, Búzios’ production potential should reach 1.5 million barrels per day by 2030,' explains Petrobras’ Exploration and Production Director, Sylvia Anjos.
Journey of records
The previous daily production record at the Búzios Field was set in January 2024, when the mark of 782 thousand barrels per day was reached. Over the past year, the field has recorded the level of 750 thousand barrels per day on more than 20 days.
In March 2024, Búzios reached the cumulative production mark of 1 billion barrels of oil. In 2020, Petrobras received the OTC (Offshore Technology Conference) Award for the set of technologies developed to make production in Búzios viable. The state-of-the-art solutions used have consistently increased efficiency, boosted production, and reduced field operating costs. In September, a new 4D seismic data collection campaign for the field was initiated.
Operated by Petrobras in a consortium with the companies CNOOC, CNPC and PPSA, Búzios has the most productive wells in the country, located at a depth of over 2,000 meters in the seabed. The thickness of its reservoir is as high as Sugarloaf Mountain – and its extension is more than twice the size of Guanabara Bay.
'The milestone of 800 thousand barrels per day is yet another in the collection of records that Búzios is very proud of. With this new milestone, and with the progressive implementation of the FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, which will be the largest unit in the country, we will begin the work of moving our teams towards the milestone of 1 million barrels per day', says Luiz Otávio Schmall dos Santos, Executive Manager of Búzios.
Source: Petrobras
