London, UK | – French multinational oil giant, Total SA, have announce the first oil from the Libra mega-field, located 180 kilometres of Rio de Janeiro.
The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit Pionerio de Libra is located in unltra-deep water and has a 50,000 barrel capacity.
The start-up phase of production will focus on generating initial revenue and capturing technical data to streamline the development stage.
The Libra development will continue to search for further investment in the Libra 1 FSPO, which has a 150,000 barrels per day capacity.
Arnaud Breuillac, president, exploration and production at Total, said: “Total is pleased that production has begun on the giant Libra field, which is a multi-billion barrel resource. Libra is a major asset in Total’s portfolio and fits into our strategy of investing in highly competitive projects with low break-even points. The start-up is a major step in the development of this field, and Total is bringing its deep offshore expertise to the project.”
The Libra field is operated by Petrobras (40%) as part of the international consortium whose other partners are Total (20%), Shell (20%), CNOOC (10%) and CNPC (10%).
