Total has made the investment decision for the first phase of development for the Libra project, 180km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The deep offshore field is located in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin.
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Under the development phase, a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit with a production capacity of 150,000bpd of oil and 17 wells will be deployed in the north-western part of the block.
Total Exploration & Production president Arnaud Breuillac said: “The decision to launch the large-scale development of the Libra field is a major step for Total in Brazil.
“We have worked with Petrobras, the operator, and our partners to secure technical costs below $20 dollars per barrel. This proves that we are capable of developing competitive deep offshore projects.
“Following start-up of the early production system in November, this investment decision further strengthens our portfolio of projects under construction and feeds our production growth post-2020.”
Last month, the company reported that first oil started flowing from the Libra field.
The development was marked by the start-up of the Pioneiro de Libra, a 50,000-barrel-per-day FPSO early production phase in order to further appraise the field and generate early revenue.
Total expects to go further in the field development by bringing the new ‘Mero 1’ FPSO on stream in 2021.
The company holds a 20% interest in the Libra consortium and intends to fully exploit the potential of the field with the addition of at least three other FPSOs in future.
The additional development measures are expected to allow the field to produce more than 600,000bpd.
Other participants in the Libra consortium include Petrobras, Shell, CNOOC, and CNPC.
