Total has announced first oil from the Libra mega-field, located in ultra-deep waters 180 kilometres offshore Rio de Janeiro, in the pre-salt Santos Basin in Brazil (photo: Total)

Total has announced first oil from the Libra mega-field, located in ultra-deep waters 180 kilometres offshore Rio de Janeiro, in the pre-salt Santos Basin in Brazil. The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit Pioneiro de Libra has a capacity of 50,000 barrels of oil. This start-up of the early production system will generate revenue while also enabling technical data to be collected to optimise the subsequent development phases.

“Total is pleased that production has begun on the giant Libra field, which is a multi-billion barrel resource,” says Arnaud Breuillac, President, Exploration & Production at Total. “Libra is a major asset in Total’s portfolio and fits into our strategy of investing in highly competitive projects with low break-even points. The start-up is a major step in the development of this field, and Total is bringing its deep offshore expertise to the project.”

Beyond this early production phase, the Libra development will further continue with the next investment decision for the Libra 1 FPSO with a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day. In the years ahead, other production units of similar capacity will be invested in so that the field can be developed to its full potential.

The Libra field is operated by Petrobras (40%) as part of the international consortium whose other partners are Total (20%), Shell (20%), CNOOC (10%) and CNPC (10%).

Tags: CNOOC, CNPC, Petrobras, Shell, Total