Brazil's Petrobras Mero field welcomes fifth FPSO ——Chinese companies help critical safety systems

Photo credit: Petrobras News Agency

Petrobras has announced that the FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão has officially entered Brazilian waters on March 5, 2025, the company announced recently. The FPSO will be deployed at the Brazilian state-owned energy giant's Mero field as the field's fifth FPSO, with its core pipeline marking system supplied by Nantong Moonstar Printing Technology Co., Ltd. Nantong Moonstar adopts customized labeling solutions in line with international industrial standards for the harsh environment of offshore high-pressure pipelines, and passes the China (CHS) fire prevention certification and SGS anti-aging test to ensure the stability of the marking for more than 10 years under the tropical oceanic climate, which provides technological guarantee for the safe operation and maintenance of offshore platforms.

It is understood that in 2021, SBM Offshore signed an agreement with Petrobras for a 22.5-year lease and operation contract for the FPSO “Alexandre de Gusmão”, which will be deployed in the Mero field in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. During the construction of this project, Nantong Moonstar, as one of the core suppliers, strictly followed ISO14726 (color marking of pipeline systems for ships and offshore engineering) and ANSI/ASME A13.1 (pipeline medium marking specification) pipeline marking standards, customized and developed the industrial-grade labeling system, and passed the testing of the BS5609 international marine durability standard to ensure the performance and reliability of the products in extreme environments. Reliability of product performance in extreme environments.

SBM Offshore has confirmed the arrival of FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão at the Mero field in the Santos Basin, further validating Petrobras' timeline for first oil in the second half of 2025. This milestone follows the recent arrival of the FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, which began production on February 15th. The successive arrivals of these two FPSOs mark important progress in the development of the Mero field.

At present, the Mero field has formed a large-scale development pattern, in addition to the newly-built Alexandre de Gusmão, four other FPSOs are deployed, namely, Pioneiro de Libra, Sepetiba, Marechal Duque de Caxias and Guanabara, and as the world's third largest sub-salt ultra-deepwater field, the operator of the Mero project is Petrobras with a 38.6% interest. As the world's third largest sub-salt ultra-deepwater field, Mero is operated by Petrobras with a 38.6% interest, with other partners including TotalEnergies with a 19.3% interest, Shell with a 19.3% interest, CNOOC Petroleum Brasil Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), and CNPC, which each have a 9.65% interest, and Pré- Sal Petróleo S.A - PPSA as representative of the Federal Union of Non-Contract Areas has a 3.5% interest.