Petrobras has confirmed the startup of commercial production via its Cidade de São Paulo unit from the deepwater Sapinhoá field in the pre-salt Santos Basin offshore Brazil

The field is located in block BM-S-9, with the Cidade de São Paulo FPSO situated in a water depth of 2,140 m (7,021 ft) around 310 km offshore. The unit is capable of processing 120,000 b/d of oil and 5 MMcm/d of gas.

Well 1-SPS-55, the first to be connected to the facility, can produce more than 25,000 b/d of oil. Its production, however, will be restricted to 15,000 b/d, says Petrobras, until the commissioning of natural gas processing and reinjection systems (expected to last 90 days), is concluded.

The produced oil (30º API) will be offloaded via shuttle tankers.

Gas not used for reinjection will be transported through the Sapinhoá-Lula-Mexilhão Gas Pipeline to the Monteiro Lobato Gas Treatment Unit (UTGCA) in Caraguatatuba, on the coast of São Paulo state.

Another 10 wells (five production and five injection) will be connected to the FPSO over the next few months. A peak production of 120,000 b/d of oil is expected by the first half of 2014.

Sapinhoá is one of the largest oil fields offshore Brazil, with a total recoverable volume estimated at 2.1 Bn boe, and is producing after being discovered less than five years ago in July 2008.

A second floater, the FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela, is currently still being converted.