On Tuesday, March 28, the hull of floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) P-69 arrived at the Brasfels shipyard in Angra dos Reis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. This shipyard will do the platform’s integration work, encompassing the installation of modules on the hull, the interconnection of all equipment, and the commissioning of operating systems (a series of tests to check whether the systems have turned out as planned and are able to function properly). Each of the platform’s 18 modules has a specific function, such as generating power, supplying and treating water, producing oil, and offloading gas.

The hull is 288 meters long, 54 meters wide, and 31.5 meters tall (from the bottom of its tanks to the main deck). It was built at the Cosco shipyard in Zhoushan, China. After it has been integrated, the platform will be capable of processing 150,000 barrels of oil and 6 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. Able to store 1.6 million barrels of oil, it will operate at a water depth of 2,200 meters.

P-69 will be installed in Lula field, in the Far South Lula module, in the Santos Basin pre-salt. This field is operated and 65% owned by Petrobras, in partnership with Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary BG E&P Brasil (25%) and Petrogal Brasil (10%). Start up is scheduled for 2018.