Itapu

Itapu Oil and Gas Field Profile

Location and Discovery

• The Itapu oil and gas field is located in the Santos Basin, specifically within Block 1 of the transfer of rights area in the northern part of the basin, approximately 200 km offshore from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Discovery

• The field was discovered in December 2012 through the drilling of the 1-BRSA-1116-RJS exploratory well (previously known as Florim, 1-RJS-704). The discovery well intercepted high-quality oil of 29° API in carbonate reservoirs beneath the salt layer, starting at a depth of 5,342 meters and ending at 6,004 meters.

Operator and Ownership

• The Itapu field is operated by Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), Brazil's state-run oil and gas company. Petrobras acquired the field through a transfer of rights auction conducted by the Brazilian Government in November 2019 and holds 100% of the exploration and production rights in the Itapu field surplus volume.

Reserves and Production

• The Itapu field has an estimated in situ oil volume of 1.3 billion barrels of oil.
• The field is expected to produce oil and gas using a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. The FPSO P-71, which is the production vessel for the field, has a production capacity of up to 150,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and 6 million standard cubic meters of natural gas per day. The vessel can store up to 1.6 million barrels of oil.

Development Plan

• The development plan for the field includes five producing wells, two gas injectors, and two water injectors, all connected to the FPSO P-71. The field is expected to continue production until 2050.
• The FPSO P-71 was originally intended for the Tupi field but was later allocated to the Itapu field. It is part of Petrobras' 'replicant' design platforms, which feature standardized engineering, high production capacity, and technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and flare gas recovery.

Infrastructure and Contractors

• The FPSO P-71 is 316 meters long and 54 meters wide, and it accommodates up to 160 people. It was in its final phase of construction at the Jurong Shipyard in Espirito Santo, Brazil, before being deployed to the Itapu field.
• Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz (EJA), a subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, received a contract for modification works on the FPSO P-71 worth $175 million in June 2021.
• Baker Hughes received contracts from Petrobras for laying flexible pipes, including up to 226 km of flexible pipe for the Marlim 2 and Itapu fields.
• PGS completed the Santos Basin seismic data revitalisation project, known as Santos Vision MultiClient, for Petrobras in December 2020, which included seismic data collection from the Sepia and Itapu fields.

Operational Timeline

• The Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) awarded the installation license for the FPSO BW Cidade de Sao Vicente for conducting long-term tests (TLD) in the field in October 2016. This license was valid until September 2018.
• Petrobras started operations at the FPSO P-71 on the Itapu Field ahead of the original schedule, with startup in December 2022. The company expects to anticipate the ramp-up to maximum production capacity in 2023.

Environmental and Regulatory Approvals

• Brazil’s National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) approved Petrobras’ field development plan for Itapu in 2017.