The Alexandre de Gusmão platform vessel left China, bound for the Mero oil field in the Santos Basin pre-salt layer. The platform, chartered by Petrobras from SBM, is an FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading unit) with the capacity to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day, in addition to compressing 12 million m3 of gas per day. The unit is scheduled to start operating in 2025 and will increase Mero's current installed production capacity by 31%, to 770,000 barrels per day.
Mero is located in the ultra-deep waters of the Santos Basin (water depth of 2,100 meters), 180 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. There are already four FPSOs producing in Mero: Pioneiro de Libra, Guanabara, Sepetiba and Marechal Duque de Caxias. The FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão is the 5th unit scheduled for installation in the field.
The unitized Mero field is governed by the Libra Production Sharing Contract - operated by Petrobras (38.6%), in partnership with Shell Brasil (19.3%), TotalEnergies (19.3%), CNOOC (9.65%), CNPC (9.65%) and Pré-Sal Petróleo SA (PPSA), which in addition to managing the contract, acts as the Union's representative in the non-contracted area (3.5%).
The FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão is prepared to receive the HISEP® (acronym in English for High Pressure Separator), patented by Petrobras, a technology that enables the underwater separation between the extracted oil and the associated gas produced, rich in CO2, which is reinjected directly into the reservoir from the seabed. In this way, the unit will be able to produce with greater energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact and intensity of emissions.
In the words of E&P Director Sylvia Couto dos Anjos: “FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão will be the fifth platform to be installed in the Mero field, with production expected to begin in mid-2025. It will join FPSO Pioneiro de Libra, FPSO Guanabara, the largest production platform in operation in Brazil, and FPSO Sepetiba and FPSO Mal Duque de Caxias. Since 2022, we have started production of a large system every year in the Mero field, which demonstrates the capacity of our teams and the quality of this world-class asset”.
“Mero offers many technical challenges for our teams, however, we are motivated to operate in the Santos Basin and, to do so, conduct large FPSO projects, such as Alexandre de Gusmão, together with partners, in what is one of the main fields in a region that is among the most promising in the global offshore region”, stated Petrobras’ Director of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Renata Baruzzi.