Petrobras’ New FPSO Sets Sail From South Korea to Brazil's Santos Basin

Petrobras’ P-79 floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit has departed South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean shipyard bound for Brazil’s Búzios field, where it will add 180,000 barrels-per-day production capacity by 2026.

The P-79 set sail on November 11 from Hanwha Ocean shipyard in Geoje-Si. The platform will be towed to its location with the crew on board, helping to speed up the start of production, with the arrival expected in February 2026.

The start of production for the platform is scheduled for August 2026 and will increase the current installed production capacity of the Búzios field by approximately 15.6%, reaching around 1.3 million barrels per day, also considering the start-up of P-78 set for December 2025.

The P-79 FPSO is capable of producing 180,000 barrels of oil and compressing 7.2 million m3 of gas per day.

The Búzios field is located in ultra-deep waters of the Santos Basin, with depths up to 2,100 meters, 180 km off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Six FPSOs are already in operation at the field, including P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77, Almirante Barroso, and Almirante Tamandaré.

In October, the field surpassed the milestone of 1 million barrels of oil produced per day, making it Petrobras' largest producing field.

The P-79 project comprises 14 wells, including 8 producers and 6 WAG injectors (oil and gas alternating injection technology).

The hull was built at Hanwha Ocean in Geoje-Si, South Korea, where the integration and commissioning of the topside modules, constructed in China, Brazil, South Korea, and Indonesia, were also carried out.

"The arrival of the manned platform, similar to what was done with the P-78, has proven to be a successful strategy to reduce the time to start production. This is the eighth unit out of the twelve planned for the field. Our expectation is that we will be able to bring forward first oil by two months compared to what is set out in our Strategic Plan.

“This is yet another result of the dedication of the entire Petrobras team, combined with supplier negotiations, detailed planning, and, above all, the discipline to deliver what was planned," said Renata Baruzzi, Petrobras' Director of Engineering, Technology and Innovation.