Brazil's federal environment protection agency Ibama has issued an operating license for the long-term testing operations at Petrobras' Pioneiro de Libra floating production unit (FPSO), which arrived on the Libra license site (offshore Brazil) in May 2017. The license establishes 32 environmental conditions for the operations and also foresees environmental licensing processes which will be carried out on the platform. The Pioneiro de Libra FPSO vessel will be the first to produce oil in the Libra Block and the long-term extended well test (EWT) at Libra is expected to start in the third quarter of 2017.
The Libra field is a giant asset with recoverable resources of 12 mbl of oil, represents one of the largest offshore oil fields in the world. In 2013, a 35-year Production Sharing Contract (PSC) was awarded to a consortium operated by Petrobras (40%) to develop the giant Libra field. Other stakeholders are Total (20%), Shell (20%), CNOOC (10%) and CNPC (10%). Total started drilling on the Libra field in 2014. The commercial production full-scale start-up is expected in 2020 and plateau production should stand at 1.4 mb/d between 2021 and 2030. The capital expenditure for the operation is now estimated at around US$20bn.