Brazil’s Largest FPSO Reaches Maximum Capacity Ahead of Schedule

Petrobras has achieved the highest daily production rate ever recorded by one of its platforms, with the FPSO Almirante Tamandaré reaching 225,000 barrels per day (bpd) on August 14 — three months ahead of schedule. The milestone was reached just 179 days after the start of operations in February at the Búzios field, located in the pre-salt Santos Basin.

Búzios, discovered in 2010, is the second-largest producing field in Brazil after Tupi and is poised to take the top spot. The field’s vast scale — with a thickness comparable to Rio’s Sugarloaf Mountain and an area twice the size of Guanabara Bay — enables the deployment of high-capacity production units. The Almirante Tamandaré, operating with only five wells out of a planned eight, has already hit its design capacity of 225,000 bpd, well above the global average FPSO capacity of around 150,000 bpd.

Petrobras’ Director of Engineering, Technology, and Innovation, Renata Baruzzi, highlighted that in addition to high capacity, the FPSO incorporates advanced efficiency and decarbonization technologies. These include a closed flare system to cut greenhouse gas emissions and heat recovery systems to reduce additional energy demand. The unit has been awarded ABS’s Sustainability Seal, and the broader Búzios 7 project is a contender for the prestigious OTC Brasil Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies.

Sylvia Anjos, Petrobras’ Director of Exploration and Production, credited the record to technical excellence, resource readiness, and the high quality of Búzios’ light crude reserves. Petrobras aims to surpass 1.5 million bpd from Búzios by 2030.

The Almirante Tamandaré, chartered from SBM Offshore, is the first 225,000 bpd FPSO installed in Brazil. The Búzios field has five additional platforms contracted and under construction, three of which are also high-capacity units.

The Búzios consortium includes Petrobras (operator), PPSA (managing production-sharing contracts), and Chinese partners CNOOC and CNODC.

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