top of page

P-68 FPSO

A purpose-built replicant FPSO developing the Berbigão accumulation and western Sururu area in Brazil’s Santos Basin. First production began on 14 November 2019. The vessel is permanently stationed about 230 kilometres off Rio de Janeiro in approximately 2,280 metres of water. It receives subsea oil-and-gas production, provides full fluid treatment and injection support, stores crude, offloads to shuttle tankers and exports treated gas by pipeline.

Operator: Petrobras

Status: Operational

P-68 FPSO platform photo

Production: Oil & Gas

Operations start: 2019

Water depth: 2280 m

Country: Brazil

Block: Berbigão, Sururu

Type: FPSO

Field

Berbigão and Sururu are large pre-salt oil-and-gas accumulations on the Santos Basin Outer High, formerly grouped within the Iara area. Reservoirs occur mainly in highly heterogeneous Aptian lacustrine carbonates of the Upper Barra Velha Formation, beneath the Ariri evaporite seal. Development uses subsea producer and injector wells tied to P-68, which acts as the common processing, storage, injection and export hub for the two accumulations.

Facilities

The P-68 development was designed for ten subsea production wells and seven subsea injector wells serving Berbigão and western Sururu. Standardised subsea trees, manifolds, flowlines, risers and umbilicals connect the wells to the FPSO. The replicant oil plant receives three-phase well fluids and uses a single treatment train with free-water knock-out and two electrostatic treaters for crude dehydration and desalting before cargo storage. Associated gas is gathered through main compression, dehydrated in molecular-sieve beds, conditioned through a Joule–Thomson hydrocarbon-dew-point-control stage and passed through carbon-dioxide-removal membranes. Treated gas is compressed for export through the permanent pre-salt gas-pipeline network or for reservoir injection; carbon-dioxide-rich gas can be separately compressed and reinjected. The topsides include injection-water treatment and pumping facilities for the injector wells. The standard replicant power system comprises four gas-turbine generator packages arranged with three operating and one standby. P-68 is approximately 316 metres long and 54 metres wide, has cargo storage for about 1.6 million barrels and includes accommodation for 154 people. Its integrated topsides comprise modular process units, pipe racks and a permanent flare. Stabilised crude is transferred to shuttle tankers, while processed gas leaves through subsea export risers and pipelines. The purpose-built hull, modular topsides and standardised well and subsea interfaces enable the vessel to function as the long-term ultra-deepwater production and injection hub for both fields.

P-68 FPSO layout
Image Source: Evidence From Microscopy and U–Pb Geochronology as a Clue to the Influence of the Cretaceous Magmatism in the Diagenesis of Pre?Salt Carbonate Reservoirs in the Santos Basin (Brazil) - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Location-map-of-the-Santos-Basin-and-the-wells-that-originated-the-studied-rocks-of-the_fig2_395296612 [accessed 15 Jul 2026]. (All rights belong to the original owner.)

Similar Assets

News

bottom of page