Petrobras recently commenced the removal of the hull of P-66 platform in the Rio Grande Shipyard, Brazil. The operation required dredging to open the gate, which was conducted by LUSCHI. "About 30,000 cubic meters of sediment were dredged in less than 20 days using a hopper dredge and a very powerful submersible pump for inaccessible places," says Roberto Britto, director of logistics Luschi.

The dredging activities have started in March, alongside the works of partial flooding of the dry dock and inspection of the hull. The complete filling of the dock was taken on April 4, when the climatic conditions are presented adequate, until it reaches about 14 meters depth needed to open the door-boat. 

This platform is the first of eight replicant FPSOs (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) to be built for the development of the pre-salt projects, in the prolific Santos basin. This unit will have a processing capacity of 150,000 bpd of oil and 6 million m³/day of natural gas.