Equinor, along with partners ExxonMobil Brasil, Pré-sal Petróleo (PPSA), and Petrogal Brasil, a joint venture between Galp and Sinopec, has commenced production from the Bacalhau field offshore Brazil.
The field is located in the Santos Basin's pre-salt region, more than 2,000m underwater and 185km from São Paulo's Ilhabela coast.
Bacalhau is notable for being Equinor's largest international offshore development, with recoverable reserves surpassing one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
It features an advanced floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
This vessel, measuring 370m long and 64m wide, has a production capacity of 220,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Bacalhau's FPSO employs combined-cycle gas turbines to lower carbon emissions, achieving a CO₂ intensity of around 9kg/boe.
Equinor president and CEO Anders Opedal said: “The safe start-up of Bacalhau marks a major milestone for Equinor. Bacalhau represents a new generation of projects that bring together scale, cost-efficiency and lower carbon intensity.
“With this development, we are strengthening the longevity of our oil and gas production and securing value creation for decades to come.”
The phase one development of Bacalhau involves 19 wells, which will be sequentially activated to maintain production levels.
Equinor expects to provide an update on the field's progress during the ramp-up phase in 2026.
Modec, the FPSO contractor, will manage operations in the initial phase before Equinor assumes control, continuing until the licence period concludes.
Bacalhau marks the first pre-salt development in Brazil operated by an international entity, with Equinor having taken over as operator in 2016 following Petrobras' discovery of the field in 2012.
The project partners include Equinor (40%), ExxonMobil Brasil (40%), Petrogal Brasil (20%) and PPSA.
Equinor executive vice-president for projects, drilling and procurement Geir Tungesvik said: “Around 70 million hours of work have been recorded in the project with solid safety results.
“I would like to sincerely thank our partners, suppliers and employees for making this achievement a reality.
“With its size, water depth and lower carbon intensity, Bacalhau is a testament to our engineering capabilities and ability to operate internationally.”
Equinor is also spearheading the Raia ultra deep-water field development in Brazil, which is due to be completed in 2028.
Equinor exploration and production international business executive vice-president Philippe Mathieu said: “Brazil is a core area for us and Bacalhau will be a major contributor to Equinor’s goal of generating more than five billion dollars of free cash flow by 2030 from our international portfolio.
“Bacalhau will also deliver positive ripple effects and long-term benefits to Brazil´s economy, creating approximately 50,000 jobs over its 30-year lifetime.”
Last month, Equinor started production from the Askeladd Vest subsea field in the Barents Sea offshore Norway.
