VESSEL REVIEW | P-78 – Petrobras' new FPSO to support production at Brazil's Buzios field

The floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) P-78 recently arrived at the Buzios field in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin off Brazil to commence work on behalf of Brazilian state-owned energy company Petrobras.

Built by Singapore’s Seatrium, the Liberian-flagged FPSO is the seventh unit planned for the field and will join six other platforms currently in operation: P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77, Almirante Barroso, and Almirante Tamandaré.

Following arrival and prior to entering service, anchoring operations and connection of the platform to the Buzios field’s producing wells will be carried out, a process that Seatrium expects will take about two months.

P-78 has a length of 350 metres (1,150 feet), a beam of 35 metres (110 feet), a storage capacity of two million barrels of oil, and a production capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day, in addition to being able to compress 7.2 million cubic metres (250 million cubic feet) of gas daily.

Construction using multiple facilities

The FPSO’s 85,000-tonne hull, which also encompasses the living quarters for the 240-strong crew, was completed by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea. Seatrium completed the topside modules, which weigh 54,000 tonnes, across three global facilities, while the integration and commissioning works were carried out in Singapore.

Engineering services including detail design and technical support were provided by Ghenova.

Siemens Energy supplied the gas turbine generators and electric motor-driven compression trains as well as the four damper-equipped waste heat recovery units, which are encased in stainless steel and will collect the power modules’ excess heat.

There are also advanced automation and digital monitoring systems installed on board.

Configured for immediate deployment and production

The FPSO was transported to Brazil with a crew on board. Seatrium said this would allow production to begin approximately two weeks earlier compared to the traditional approach of stopping in sheltered waters.

The company added that moving the FPSO while manned enables several complex systems to remain operational, ensuring continuity of commissioning activities and team training on these systems. This approach significantly reduces the time between the unit's arrival at the field and the start of oil production.

The Búzios field is located in ultra-deep waters of the Santos Basin at depths of up to 2,100 metres (6,900 feet), approximately 180 kilometres (110 miles) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. The Búzios Six project involves 13 wells: six producers (with two convertible to injectors), six water alternating gas injectors, and one gas injector.

The FPSO will be interlinked with rigid pipelines for production, injection, and gas export, as well as flexible pipelines for service lines and gas lift.