The P-79 floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel departed from the Hanwha Ocean shipyard in Geoje-Si, South Korea, on November 11, 2025. The platform is en route to the Búzios field in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, Brazil. The vessel will be towed to its destination with crew members on board, a move intended to speed up the start of oil production. Arrival is expected in February 2026.
Renata Baruzzi, Petrobras’ Executive Officer for Engineering, Technology and Innovation, commented on the strategy: “Bringing the platform with crew onboard, as was done with P-78, proved to be a successful strategy to reduce time for starting production. This is the eighth unit out of twelve planned for the field. Our expectation is that we can bring forward first oil by two months compared to what is set out in our Strategic Plan. This result reflects the dedication of all Petrobras teams, together with supplier negotiations, detailed planning and above all discipline in executing what was planned.”
Baruzzi recently visited Hanwha Ocean shipyard along with Sylvia Anjos, Executive Officer for Exploration and Production at Petrobras, to oversee final preparations before deployment.
Production from P-79 is scheduled to begin in August 2026. Once operational—and factoring in the addition of P-78 coming online in December 2025—the total installed capacity at Búzios field will increase by about 15.6%, reaching approximately 1.3 million barrels per day.
The Búzios field lies in ultra-deep waters—up to 2,100 meters deep—about 180 kilometers off Rio de Janeiro’s coast. There are currently six FPSOs operating there: P-74, P-75, P-76, P-77, Almirante Barroso and Almirante Tamandaré. In October 2025, daily output at Búzios surpassed one million barrels of oil per day; this milestone made it Petrobras’ largest producing field.
The P-79 project involves a total of fourteen wells: eight producers and six WAG injectors (which use alternating water and gas injection technology). The hull was constructed at Hanwha Ocean in South Korea; topside modules were built and integrated across China, Brazil, South Korea and Indonesia.
