A startup date for the giant pre-salt Jupiter field offshore Brazil has been signalled for 2018 or 2019, Petrobras has indicated.

Speaking during the company’s second quarter results presentation, Jose Formigli, director of E&P, said the field, which has been firmed up with a fourth exploration well, is already in the company’s business plan for the next four years and would be timed to coincide with that plan. Formigli was responding to a question on the likely development priority of pre-salt fields including Jupiter.

“I can tell you that our priority remains the same in terms of our business and management plan for 2014 to 2018. Everything you see there still applies,” he said. “Continuity of projects under concession that we had sanctioned before Lula, Sapinhoá, and projects that are under concession later on, are also present – Carcará, Cernambi, which is [ the] Iracema de Lula area. They will be, as expected, in our schedule. Jupiter was also mentioned, just as Carcará, they will start up as of 2018 and 2019,” he continued.

Formigli also said an extended well test on the giant Libra field is scheduled for late 2016. A bidding process has been launched and Petrobras has now received proposals. “This is under negotiation for (the) FPSO and the extended well test, and the first oil is expected in 2020 from Libra,” he said. (See DI, 8 August 2014, page 8).

Formigli was referencing the Petrobras 2030 Strategic Plan and the 2014-18 business plan. The new plan envisages Brazilian production rising to 2020, then levelling off at a sustainable level of 4 MMb/d from 2020 to 2030.