Petrobras platform P-79 departs South Korean shipyard en route to Brazil

The P-79 floating production unit departed this morning, November 11 (local time), from the Hanwha Ocean shipyard in Geoje-Si, South Korea, bound for the Búzios field in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin. The platform will be towed to its location with the crew on board, helping to speed up the start of production. Arrival is expected in February next year.

"The arrival of the manned platform, similar to what was done with the P-78, has proven to be a successful strategy to reduce the time to start production. This is the eighth unit out of the twelve planned for the field. Our expectation is that we will be able to bring forward first oil by two months compared to what is set out in our Strategic Plan. This is yet another result of the dedication of the entire Petrobras team, combined with supplier negotiations, detailed planning, and, above all, the discipline to deliver what was planned," said Renata Baruzzi, Petrobras' Director of Engineering, Technology and Innovation.

Renata recently visited the Hanwha Ocean shipyard, together with the Director of Exploration and Production, Sylvia Anjos, to authorize the unit's deployment to the Búzios field.
 
The start of production for the platform is scheduled for August 2026 and will increase the current installed production capacity of the Búzios field by approximately 15.6%, reaching around 1.3 million barrels per day, also considering the start-up of P-78 in December this year.

The Búzios field is located in ultra-deep waters of the Santos Basin (depths up to 2,100 meters), 180 km off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, where six FPSOs are already in operation: P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77, Almirante Barroso, and Almirante Tamandaré. In October, the field surpassed the milestone of 1 million barrels of oil produced per day, making it Petrobras' largest producing field.

The P-79 project comprises 14 wells, including 8 producers and 6 WAG injectors (oil and gas alternating injection technology). The hull was built at Hanwha Ocean in Geoje-Si, South Korea, where the integration and commissioning of the topside modules—constructed in China, Brazil, South Korea, and Indonesia—were also carried out.