Brazilian Oil Giant Petrobras starts major deepwater oil project
The state-run oil company has started the first development phase at the Santos Basin.

Brazil's state oil major Petrobras has initiated a new phase in the development of the first deep-sea oil project since the crisis began in the Mero field in the Santos Basin. According to a report from BNAmericas, the Brazilian major had ordered a floating production, storage and unloading vessel for the field from MISC Berhad, a subsidiary of the Malaysian company Petronas, with a daily capacity of 180,000 bpd of crude oil and 12 cubic meters of natural gas. The FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias will be the third platform deployed on the Mero field, which is part of Brazil's productive pre-salt zone, which is home to most of Brazil's undeveloped oil and gas wealth. The collapse in oil prices put an end to many development projects, but the Mero field has a fairly low cost of production at $ 35 a barrel, according to BNAmericas, making it economically viable even at current oil prices. The field currently produces approximately 26,000 bpd as of June. This is reinforced by eight more wells that will supply the FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias with oil and gas from 2024. The demand for Brazilian crude oil seems to be great: Last month, Petrobras also published a tender for three more FPSOs to be used in the Buzios field - another deep-sea monster in the pre-dip zone - and which will increase production from the field up to 2 million bpd to increase. However, these are long-term plans. The production rate of 2 million bpd is expected to be reached by 2030, making Buzios the largest producing field in Petrobras' portfolio. Petrobras is also striving to better utilize the associated natural gas in its productive oil-rich pre-salt area by owning offshore Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) units to process the gas, which has grown in production as oil production in the area has grown.





