QatarEnergy has announced that the consortium partners in the Sepia joint venture have taken the final investment decision (FID) for the second development phase of the Sepia field, located in the prolific pre-salt Santos Basin, offshore Brazil.

The Sepia joint venture is a partnership between QatarEnergy, TotalEnergies, Petronas, Petrogal Brazil, and Petrobras (the operator).

The FID was marked by the signing of a contract with Seatrium O&G Americas Limited to construct a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit to operate in the ultra-deep waters of theSepia field.

The FPSO will have a crude oil production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day, and a gas processing capacity of ten million cubic meters per day.

Minister of State for Energy Affairs and QatarEnergy President and CEO HE Saad Sherida Al Kaabi welcomed the award of the contract as an important landmark in QatarEnergy’s activities in Brazil.

The FPSO is expected to result in reducing greenhouse gas emission intensity per barrel of oil equivalent by 30 percent. The reduction is due to the benefits of an all-electric configuration and optimisations in the processing plant to increase energy efficiency.

The FPSO also incorporates several environmental technologies, such as zero routine ventilation (recovery of ventilated gases from cargo tanks and the processing), deep seawater capture, use of speed variators in pumps and compressors, cogeneration (Waste Heat Recovery Unit), routine zero burning (torch gas recovery – closed flare), valves with requirements for low fugitive emissions and the capture, use and geological storage of CO2 from the gas produced.

The FPSO’s construction will be carried out in shipyards in Brazil, China, and Singapore. It will be the second FPSO in the Sepia field (in addition to the already operating Carioca FPSO) and will target the northern part of the Sepia field.