Brazil’s Petrobras Sets Record Daily Oil Production in Pre-Salt Santos Basin

Brazilian state-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras has achieved a record daily oil production at its field located in the pre-salt Santos Basin offshore Brazil.

According to the Brazilian major, the Búzios field, situated about 180 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, reached a record of 800 thousand barrels of oil produced daily on February 24, 2025.

“The milestone of 800 thousand barrels per day is yet another in the collection of records that Búzios is very proud of. With this new milestone, and with the progressive implementation of the FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, which will be the largest unit in the country, we will begin the work of moving our teams towards the milestone of 1 million barrels per day,” said Luiz Otávio Schmall dos Santos, Executive Manager of Búzios.

The “historic milestone” was reached after the arrival of the sixth floating production, storage, and offloading unit (FPSO) at the field, Almirante Tamandaré, earlier this month. The vessel, which was leased from SBM Offshore, joined five other platforms: P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77, and Almirante Barroso.

The previous daily production record at the Búzios field was set in January 2024, with 782 thousand barrels per day. The Brazilian major claims the field has recorded a level of 750 thousand barrels per day for more than 20 days over the past year.

In March 2024, Búzios reached the cumulative production mark of 1 billion barrels of oil and its potential increased even further with the arrival of Almirante Tamandaré in Brazil in October. The FPSO is the largest installation of its kind in Brazil and the first with the capacity to produce up to 225,000 barrels of oil and process 12 million cubic meters of gas daily.

“With the launch of FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, our expectation is to reach a new daily production milestone in Búzios in a short period of time: 1 million barrels. Furthermore, in the near future, with new units planned, Búzios’ production potential should reach 1.5 million barrels per day by 2030,” noted Petrobras’ Exploration and Production Director, Sylvia Anjos.

Búzios, which began operating in 2018, is the second field in terms of production volume and reserves in the country, behind the Tupi field. The deepwater field is operated by Petrobras (88.98% stake), in partnership with CNOOC (7.34%) and CNPC (3.67%), with Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA) as the manager.

In January, Petrobras highlighted Búzios as one of the fields responsible for the increase in its proven reserves of oil, condensate, and natural gas in 2024 compared to the previous year. Earlier this month, the Brazilian giant confirmed a new oil discovery in the western region of the field.