Eagle Passos, the last of the four new relievers hired to increase Petrobras' flow capacity, concluded this Tuesday (01/19) its first oil transfer operation, carried out in the Tupi field, in the Santos Basin. The oil, collected from the P-67 and Cidade de Saquarema platforms, was subsequently unloaded from Eagle Passos to an export vessel in Angra dos Reis. The vessel arrived in Brazil on January 9 and joined the fleet of 21 tankers of the dynamic positioning (DP) type at Petrobras, which carry out around 1,300 offloadings per year.

Like the other three relievers, Eagle Passos is a dynamic positioning vessel (DP2) - which stabilizes itself automatically - and has a transport and storage capacity of 1 million barrels. The first, Eagle Petrolina, started operating in July, followed by Eagle Paulínia in September. The third contracted vessel, Eagle Paraíso, has been operating since the beginning of November 2020, mainly in the Búzios field, in the Santos Basin. Since arriving, the four vessels have carried out more than 100 offloadings, totaling about 51 million barrels of oil transferred and transported mostly to Angra dos Reis and São Sebastião.

In addition to the four units already in operation, last year Petrobras hired three more tankers of the same type, with delivery scheduled for 2022. The first of this new series should arrive in Brazil in February 2022.

Safety and efficiency 

Custom-designed and built in South Korea, Suezmax class vessels are equipped with a Dynamic Positioning (DP2) system, with high-powered thrusters and a dynamic positioning system. This mechanism allows the vessel to be stabilized automatically, ensuring safety and increasing the efficiency of the oil relief operation. Ships are also equipped with electrically driven cargo pumps to increase fuel usage and reduce costs.