Petrobras says the P-54 FPSO started operations the evening of Dec. 11. The FPSO is located in the Roncador field in Brazil's Campos Basin.

The unit is designed to produce 180,000 barrels per day, at peak production, it will increase that field's installed capacity to 460,000 bbl/d and make an important contribution to sustaining Brazil's oil self-sufficiency.

Built from the conversion of the Barao de Maua vessel, which belonged to Petrobras' fleet, the P-54 is capable of compressing 6,000,000 cubic meters of gas per day and of storing up to 2,000,000 barrels of oil. The new platform is an addition, in the Roncador field, to the P-52, which kicked production off in November and is capable of lifting 180,000 bbl/d, and to FPSO Brasil, which lifts 100,000 bpd.

With the P-54 going into operation, Petrobras concludes the inauguration cycle of three new production units in Southeastern Brazil in the last quarter of the year. In addition to it and to the P-52, in November, the company had already put FPSO Cidade de Vitoria into operation, a unit that is capable of producing 100,000 bpd, in the Golfinho field, Espirito Santo Basin.

The P-54 FPSO (floating production, storage, and offloading unit) will be anchored at a surface water depth of 1,400 meters, equivalent to two times the height of the Corcovado, in Rio de Janeiro, and will be interconnected to 17 wells, 11 of which are oil and gas producers, while six water injectors.

The new vessel is expected to reach peak production in the second half of 2008. Until then, the unit will also reach its peak gas outflow level: 1.8 million cubic meters per day. Oil production outflow will be performed by relief vessels, while the gas will be transported over submarine pipelines to mainland.

As was the case with the P-52, Petrobras built the new platform in compliance with the new nationalization parameters. Totaling 63% national content, the P-54 construction work generated 2,600 direct and 10,000 indirect jobs.

The FPSO was built in a modular fashion, in 41 months, after three agreements were signed in June 2004. The Dresser Rand/Maua Jurong consortium built the gas compression modules, while Nuovo Pignone made the power generation units. The Jurong Shipyard was in charge of converting the hull, manufacturing the remaining process and utility modules, and unit integration.

The process, utility, and compression modules were built at the Maua-Jurong construction site, in Niteroi (RJ), while the power generation at Nuovo Pignone's Porto Novo Rio construction site, in Caju (RJ).

Tags: Petrobras