Petrobras' Platform P-53 Kicks Off Production at Marlim Leste Field

Petrobras announced that platform P-53 kicked-off its operations yesterday, November 30. This is the first production unit installed in the Marlim Leste field, in the Campos Basin.

The P-53 unit has total production capacity of 180,000 barrels per day of heavy oil, 20 degrees API, and compressing capacity up to 6 million cubic meters/day of natural gas. The platform's oil production will be offloaded to shore by shuttle tankers with the assistance of Autonomous Repumping Platform PRA-1 and the FSO Cidade de Macae. Part of the gas that is produced will be consumed by the platform itself as fuel to generate electricity, and the remaining will be exported to shore via the Campos Basin's gas network. The platform will reach peak production in the first half of 2010.

The P-53 is anchored at a water depth of 1,080 m, 120 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Built from the conversion of the Setebello oil tanker, it will be interconnected to 21 wells, 13 of which are oil and gas producers and eight water injectors. The platform is equipped with a turret system (a tower that receives the flexible production and injection lines, the oil and gas pipelines, and the mooring lines) capable of receiving up to 75 flexible lines.

In addition to the P-53, in the next six months four more production units will start-up production in the Campos, Espirito Santo, and Santos basins, contributing to increase Petrobras oil and gas production:

• Platform P-51, in the Marlim Sul Field, in the Campos Basin;
• FPSO Cidade de Niteroi, in the Marlim Leste field, in the Campos Basin;
• FPSO Cidade de Sao Mateus, in the Camarupim Field, in the Espirito Santo Basin;
• FPSO BW Peace, Pilot Project in the Tupi Field, in the Pre-Salt layer in the Santos Basin.