Petrobras Announces Start-up of Early Production System
Thursday 3 March 2016
Petrobras has announced that the Early Production System in the Sépia area (formerly the Nordeste de Tupi area) has commenced operations in the Santos Basin pre-salt layer. The FPSO Cidade de São Vicente floating platform is set to produce around 20,000 barrels of oil per day during the test period.
Deployed in waters of approx. 2,200 meters depth, the FPSO is connected to the 1-RJS-691 well and will remain in its current location for 180 days.
This is the fourth Early Production System set up in the Rights Transfer area of the Santos Basin. The oil is of good quality oil (26º API) and will be transported by shuttle tankers.
The Sépia Early Production System is designed to collect technical data on the behavior of the reservoirs and oil outflow through underwater pipes, as well as other data. This will provide support for the development of the final production system, scheduled to come on-stream in 2020.
Located some 185 kms off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, the Sépia field was declared commercially viable in September 2014.