Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda (Shell Brasil), a subsidiary of Shell plc has announced the start of production of the floating production storage and offloading facility (FPSO) Marechal Duque de Caxias in the Mero field, in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. Also known as Mero-3, the FPSO has an operational capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day, with Shell’s share of 19.3%.
“Mero-3 demonstrates our commitment to increasingly efficient and competitive projects,” says Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director. “Brazil is a material contributor to Shell’s deep-water oil and gas production, and through our ongoing partnership with Petrobras in the Mero field, we can help continue to deliver safe and secure energy from one of the country’s most productive fields.”
In a statement to Energy Window International by email, Shell said the FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias is located 200 kilometres from the coast of Rio de Janeiro in a water depth of 2,200 metres. Its predecessor, the FPSO Sepetiba (Mero-2), the Company says, announced first production in December 2023. The FPSO Guanabara (Mero-1) started production in May 2022.
It would be recalled that the Company had in August 2020 announced the Final Investment Decision on Mero-3, an oil field which is part of the Libra Production Sharing Contract (PSC), whose approval was sealed in December 2013.
Mero-3 according to the statement will be contributing to Shell’s Capital Market Day 2023 commitment of delivering upstream and integrated gas projects coming on stream between 2023 to 2025, with a total peak production of more than 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).
The three FPSOs now online, along with the Early Production System (EPS) Shell says, represent a total installed production capacity of 590,000 boe/d.
Meanwhile Shell has credited SBM Offshore MISC for all the engagements – including the engineering fabrications, procurement, construction, mobilization, installation, and even operation of FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias. SBM is also providing topside processing equipment as well as hull and marine systems.
Shell Brasil holds a 19.3 percent stake in the Mero Unitized Field, along with other members of the Libra Consortium: Petrobras (38.6 percent – operator), TotalEnergies (19.3 percent), CNPC (9.65 percent), CNOOC (9.65 percent), and PPSA (3.5 percent) representing the Government in the non-contracted area.