Lula consortium adds production in Brazil

Brazilian NOC Petrobras and partners Shell and Petrogal have brought an eighth FPSO on line at the deepwater Lula field in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, international media reported Wednesday.

The P-69 FPSO has a daily production capacity of 150,000 barrels of oil and 6 mcm (212 mcf) of gas, and will be tied to eight production wells and seven water injection wells in the extreme south of the field.

“The Brazilian pre-salt fields are some of the best deepwater provinces in the world,” Andy Brown, Shell’s upstream director said. “With significant flow rates, deepwater Brazil projects are breaking even under USD 40 per barrel. We commend Petrobras on this production milestone, and we look forward to progressing additional development plans with our consortium partners, as well as for our recently-acquired, deepwater Brazil blocks.”

The partners will now move to start up the P-67 FPSO in Lula’s northern area. The Lula field produces about 30% of the country’s overall output, and by 2020 or 2021, it is expected to hit peak output of 1 million boepd.