Brazil’s Búzios field has set another oil production record, surpassing 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d) just three days after reaching 1.1 million b/d, Petrobras announced on June 29.
The company said the production record was driven by higher output from the P-78 and P-79 production platforms as they continue ramping up toward their full production capacity of 180,000 b/d each.
“The Búzios field, the largest deepwater oil field in the world, currently has eight production units in operation: the P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77, P-78 and P-79 platforms, as well as the FPSOs [floating production storage and offloading vessel] Almirante Barroso and Almirante Tamandaré, the latter being Brazil’s largest production unit by nominal capacity at 225,000 barrels per day, with capacity extended to up to 270,000 barrels per day,” the company said.
Búzios lies more than 2,000 meters below the seabed and is the third Petrobras-operated field to surpass 1 million b/d, following Tupi in the Santos Basin pre-salt region.
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The consortium operating the field includes Petrobras as operator, alongside China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation (CNODC), and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA).
Petrobras said it “plans to expand production further with a total of 12 FPSOs at the field. The P-80, P-82 and P-83 FPSOs are under construction, while the Búzios 12 production unit is in the bidding phase”.
Brazil’s pre-salt fields are now the country’s main source of oil production. Led by giant fields such as Búzios and Lula, the region has made Brazil one of the world’s top offshore producers, supported by a growing fleet of high-capacity FPSOs.
The Lula field was Petrobras’ first major pre-salt discovery. It became the company’s first operated field to exceed 1 million b/d.
