Brazil: First gas injection of the P-76
Published 29.6.2020
The last stage allowing the platform to reduce the volume of gas flaring has been completed.
P-76 is the third floating production and storage (FPSO) platform to enter production in the Buzios field and in May, it carried out its first gas injection. Preparations for this procedure, which have taken almost three months since the start of production in February, were developed by a team of 40 employees on board the platform, joined by another 32 onshore and offshore employees from the TTP76 consortium and Petrobras.
The complicated nature of the gas injection procedure required specialized knowledge from the team members operating the systems and subsystems, as they had to work with various pieces of equipment from the Processing Plant. The greatest challenge was the extreme technical complexity involved in integrating the start-up of the systems at the gas dehydration unit, the dew point analysis unit and the compressors. Once this had been achieved, the P-76 was able to reduce the volume of gas flaring, making it possible to carry out the offshore systems commissioning to increase production, in line with the plans agreed with the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) and the Brazilian Environment and Renewable Natural Resources Institute (IBAMA).
The FPSO lies some 180 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, in waters 2,030 meters deep, has a processing capacity of up to 150 thousand boe/day and a compression capacity of up to 7 million cubic meters of natural gas. The project envisages connecting ten production wells and seven injection wells to the FPSO, and the oil flow produced will be handled by the relief ships, while gas production will be drained by the pre-salt gas pipeline routes.
The completion of the hull conversion, the module assembly and integration, as well as the unit commissioning works were carried out in Pontal do ParanĂ¡ by Techint Engineering & Construction. With over 70 years' presence in Brazil and 40 years working in the offshore market, Techint is proud to have been responsible for the construction and integration of the topside modules of the platform, building 15 of the P-76's 20 modules.