Petrobras Reassesses Jupiter Pre-Salt Development with Focus on Cost Reduction

Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras is re-evaluating the development of the Jupiter pre-salt discovery in the Santos basin, aiming to bring the giant condensate and natural gas project online after nearly two decades of delays. The Jupiter field, located in Block BM-S-24, presents significant challenges due to its complex carbonate reservoir. The crude oil has an API gravity of 18 degrees, which is about 10 degrees heavier than other pre-salt fields, and approximately 79% of its gas is carbon dioxide (CO2), a concentration much higher than at pioneering fields like Tupi and Sapinhoa, and nearly double that of Mero.

Discovered in January 2008, Petrobras has drilled three additional wells in BM-S-24 (Bracuhy, Jupiter NE, and Apollonia), confirming substantial resources of oil, condensate, and natural gas mixed with CO2. Petrobras’ engineering, technology, and innovation director, Renata Baruzzi, noted that after years of unsuccessful attempts, a discussion with Equinor provided an interesting idea. Equinor suggested deploying a large floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel similar to the one installed at its Johan Castberg field in the Norwegian North Sea, which has a processing capacity of 220,000 barrels per day and cost only $1.5 billion to build. The entire Johan Castberg development was pegged at approximately $8.2 billion, including the FPSO, subsea systems, drilling, and completion.

Baruzzi was impressed by the cost and instructed her team to study the case. The conclusion was that, unlike Johan Castberg, projects in Brazil have numerous redundancies and a different operating philosophy, which Petrobras is now trying to change for Jupiter. The company has entered negotiations with the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) to ease some redundancies, such as having more gas compression modules on topsides than required. As a result, the ANP is open to eliminating some redundancies, potentially leading to new oil production and FPSO projects. Baruzzi explained that removing redundancies would make the Jupiter development simpler and cheaper.

Petrobras operates BM-S-24 with an 80% stake, while Galp Energia holds the remaining 20%. Although Equinor is not part of the Jupiter development, it partners with Petrobras in other offshore Brazil projects, including the forthcoming Raia pre-salt field. Baruzzi also confirmed that the Hi-Sep technology, developed in partnership with TechnipFMC, could be applied at Jupiter in the future. This $1 billion concept captures CO2-rich dense gases directly from the well stream, moving part of the separation process from the topside to the seabed. Hi-Sep will initially be installed in the Mero pre-salt field in 2028 and could later help unlock other developments, including Jupiter.