Almirante Tamandaré platform, installed in the Búzios field, breaks oil production record

Upon reaching 225 thousand barrels/day this Thursday (8/14), the Almirante Tamandaré platform (Búzios 7 Project) achieved the highest production flow per unit in Petrobras’ history, 3 months ahead of the scheduled date, November of this year. The FPSO (a ship that produces, transports, and stores oil) began operations in February, in the Búzios field, in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, and the record confirms expectations that the field will soon become Petrobras’ largest in production. Búzios is the second-largest field in production volume in the country, behind only the Tupi Field. 

The super Búzios field, discovered in 2010, has gigantic dimensions: its thickness is equivalent to the height of Sugarloaf Mountain and its area corresponds to twice the size of Guanabara Bay. The magnitude of the field allowed Petrobras to also pursue larger production units. The FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, with only 5 wells and 179 days since the start of production, has already reached its maximum production capacity of 225 thousand barrels/day. 

The Director of Engineering, Technology and Innovation at Petrobras, Renata Baruzzi, noted that the average capacity of platforms worldwide is lower, around 150 thousand barrels of oil per day and gas compression of 10 million m³. “We have reached another level of productivity, only possible in fields like Búzios. In this unit, in addition to the high capacity, we focused on achieving greater efficiency and on decarbonization technologies,” she emphasized. 

Among the technologies mentioned are the closed flare system, which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. There are also heat recovery technologies, which reduce the unit’s additional energy demand. The FPSO received the Sustainability Seal from the ABS certifier, and the Búzios 7 Project as a whole is competing, for innovations and excellence in management practices, for the OTC Brasil Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies, from the Offshore Technology Conference, one of the world’s most important technology events for the offshore oil and gas sector. The project includes, in addition to the Almirante Tamandaré platform, all the subsea infrastructure, such as pipelines and wells. 

Sylvia Anjos, Director of Exploration and Production, highlighted the conditions that contributed to the record. “The technical excellence of our people, combined with the readiness of resources and the installed equipment, contributed decisively to this record. Another important factor, besides the volume, is the quality of the oil from the Búzios field, which has substantial reserves of light oil.” 

The company’s expectation is to surpass, in this field, by 2030, the milestone of 1.5 million barrels/day. 

The FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, chartered to SBM Offshore, is the first 225 thousand bpd unit installed in Brazil. The Búzios field has five more platforms contracted and under construction to start production in the coming years, three of which are high-capacity. The Búzios 7 Project foresees 8 producing wells, and the mark of 225 thousand barrels per day (bpd) was reached with 5 of these wells. 

The Búzios consortium is composed of Petrobras, as the operator, PPSA, manager of the production sharing contracts, and the Chinese partner companies CNOOC and CNODC.