Petrobras Starts Production from P-56 Platform

Brazilian oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR4.BR) started production Tuesday from its P-56 oil rig located in the Marlim Sul oil field in the Campos Basin off the coast of southeastern Brazil.

The platform started production at one well, lifting 16,000 barrels per day, but total production should rise to 100,000 barrels per day from 10 producing wells in the first quarter of 2012, Petrobras said in a statement late Tuesday.

The heavy crude oil is of low quality, measured at 18 degrees API, Petrobras said. The platform will also handle up to 6 million cubic meters per day of natural gas, it said.

Petrobras said the oil and gas would be pumped through a pipeline some 20 kilometers long to the P-38 platform. From there, the oil would be transferred to tanker ships while the natural gas would be transported by pipeline to a natural gas terminal at Cabiunas.

Petrobras said the hull of the drilling rig was built entirely in Brazil, although the topside components were manufactured overseas.

 

Source: MarketWatch via Dow Jones