Petrobras Starts Tender Process For Atapu And Sepia FPSOs

Brazilian state-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras has started the contracting process for two floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units for the Atapu and Sépia fields.

Petrobras said on Tuesday that the proposals were expected to be received in July 2023 with production from the FPSOs set to start in 2028.

After the second bidding round for the excess volumes of the transfer of rights, Petrobras – the operator of the fields – now holds a 65.7 percent stake in the shared deposit of Atapu while Shell, TotalEnergies, Petrogal, and Pré-Sal Petróleo hold 16.7, 15, 1.7, 0.9 percent of the shared deposit of Atapu, respectively.

As for the shared deposit of Sépia, Petrobras is again the operator with a 55.3 percent stake while TotalEnergies, Petronas, QatarEnergy, and Petrogal hold 16.9, 12.7, 12.7, and 2.4 percent, respectively. In both deposits, Pré-Sal Petróleo acts as manager of the sharing contract.

According to Petrobras, the P-84 (Atapu) and P-85 (Sepia) FPSOs will each have a daily production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day and will be able to process 10 million cubic meters of gas per day.

The FPSO design, which will be standardized between the two units, will represent a step in technological evolution targeting a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, with emphasis on the introduction of an all-electric concept in projects of this size. It consists of an engineering concept for more efficient energy generation, making use of the recent review of emission limits stated in environmental directives provided by Brazil’s National Council for the Environment (CONAMA).

The project is expected to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent per barrel of oil equivalent produced. The reduction is due to the benefits of the all-electric configuration, optimizations in the processing plant to increase energy efficiency, and the incorporation of special technologies like zero routine ventilation – recovery of vented gases from the cargo tanks and the processing plant, deep capture of seawater, use of speed variators in pumps and compressors, cogeneration, zero routine burning – torch gas recovery, valves with requirements for low fugitive emissions and the capture, and the use and geological storage of CO2 from the gas produced.

“This result reflects Petrobras' commitment to value generation, sustainability, safety, and respect for people and the environment,” the company stated.

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