Marlim Leste

Marlim Leste Oil Field Profile

Location and Discovery

• The Marlim Leste oil field is located in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil, approximately 150km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
• The field was discovered in 1987 by Petrobras.

Operator and Partners

• The field is operated by Petrobras, the national oil company of Brazil.

Production Start and Current Status

• Production at the Marlim Leste field began in 2008 with the start-up of the P-53 FPSO (Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading) unit.
• The field is currently in operation, with the FPSO Cidade de Niterói MV18 also playing a role in the field's production since February 2009, although it is primarily associated with the Marlim Leste field, another FPSO, P-53, is the main production unit for Marlim Leste.

Production Capacity and Infrastructure

• The P-53 FPSO has a total production capacity of 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy oil (20º API) and can compress up to 6 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
• The FPSO Cidade de Niterói MV18, while primarily associated with Marlim Leste, has a capacity to process 100,000 bopd and 124 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, with a storage capacity of 1,600,000 barrels of crude oil.
• The oil produced is offloaded to shore by shuttle tankers, assisted by the Autonomous PRA-1 Pumping Platform and the FSO Cidade de Macaé MV15, which has a storage capacity of 2.15 million barrels of oil.

Geology and Reservoir

• The Marlim Leste field, like the broader Marlim complex, is characterized by turbidite sandstone formations.

Contractors and Service Providers

• MODEC is responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning of the FPSO Cidade de Niterói MV18 and operates it under a time charter contract.
• Stolt Offshore was involved in the EPIC (Engineering, Procurement, Installation, and Commissioning) contract for the tie-in of oil export pipelines.

Production and Export

• The produced oil is sent to the FSO Cidade de Macaé MV15, which receives and exports production from several platforms in the Campos Basin, including those at Marlim Leste and Marlim Sul.
• Part of the gas produced is consumed by the platform for electricity generation, while the remaining gas is exported to shore via the Campos Basin’s gas network.

Historical and Current Production

• By 2019, the Marlim Leste field was producing approximately 55,000 bpd of oil.

Future Development and Redevelopment

• While the main focus is on maintaining current production levels, Petrobras has been involved in broader redevelopment efforts across the Marlim complex, including the introduction of new FPSOs to enhance recovery factors and explore pre-salt upside.