The first oil production of 315,000 barrels was transferred from the FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) Cidade de São Vicente to the oil vessel Nordic Spirit and headed to S. Sebastião harbour in the state of São Paulo in Brazil.
In this initial phase, all the production is being extracted from the Tupi Sul well, which is producing around 14,000 barrels of oil per day throughout the extended well test that will last for 15 months. During this period technical data will also be gathered being essential to the appraisal and development of the other discoveries in the Santos Basin, like Iara, Iracema, Júpiter, Bem-te-Vi and Caramba.
For Galp Energia’s CEO, Manuel Ferreira De Oliveira, “the first of May of 2009, the day when production from Tupi started, will always be in the history of the Brazilian and world oil industries. We are proud and we think it is a privilege that a Portuguese company is involved in this project. June 23 represents the incorporation by the market of the first crude oil from the pre-salt of Santos Basin, becoming another remarkable day in the history of this large project.”
The Tupi field, discovered in 2006 in BM-S-11, in the Santos Basin, is a light oil reservoir in ultra deep waters, with recoverable volumes of oil and natural gas between five and eight billion barrels. This reservoir is being explored by the Tupi Sul well and is located in a water depth of around 2,200 metres, and 5,000 meters below a sequence of salt formations with more than 2,000 metres thickness.
The Tupi field is operated by Petrobras with 65% per cent interest, BG Group holds a 25% interest and Galp Energia, a 10% interest.
Additionally to the 10% stake in BM-S-11, Galp Energia also holds stakes in the exploration consortiums for Block BM-S-8, BM-S-21 and BM-S-24, located in the Santos Basin. The recent discoveries in this Basin - Tupi, Iara and Iracema in BM-S-11, Jupiter in BM-S-24, Bem-te-Vi in BM-S-8 and Caramba in BM-S-21, made this region the support of Galp Energia’s long term strategy for exploration and production activities.