China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has commenced production at the Buzios7 project at the Buzios field.
The field is located in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, at a water depth of 1,900–2,200m. It is said to be the world’s largest deep-water pre-salt oilfield.
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The Buzios consortium includes Petrobras as the operator with an 88.99% interest, CNOOC Petroleum Brasil, a subsidiary of CNOOC, which holds a 7.34% interest, and CNODC Brasil Petróleo e Gás with the remaining 3.67%.
Buzios7 is the sixth project to be commissioned at the oilfield and is being developed using the Almirante Tamandaré floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, along with a subsea production system.
A total of 15 development wells are planned, comprising seven oil producers, six water and gas injectors, one convertible well and one gas injector.
The field is expected to achieve a production level of one million barrels per day (mbbl/d) of oil by the second half of 2025 and 2mbbl/d by 2030.
Petrobras indicated that the Almirante Tamandaré will play a crucial role in the field’s projected output.
The FPSO, one of the largest in the world, was converted in China in July 2024 and arrived at the oilfield in October of the same year.
It boasts a production capacity of up to 225,000 barrels of crude oil and can process 12 million cubic metres of natural gas per day, with a storage capacity of 1.4mbbl of crude oil.
The FPSO is equipped with decarbonisation technologies including a closed flare system to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and heat recovery devices to optimise energy consumption.
In May 2024, Subsea7 announced the award of a major contract by Petrobras for the Búzios 9 field development off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
The company was contracted to handle the engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation and pre-commissioning of 102km of rigid risers and flowlines.
