Petrobras' P-79 floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit has completed its first oil offloading after beginning operations at the Búzios field offshore Brazil, according to shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean.
Hanwha Ocean, which carried out the engineering, procurement and construction of the vessel's hull and topsides, said the FPSO departed its Geoje shipyard in South Korea in November 2025 and arrived in Brazil in February.
The vessel produced first oil on May 1 and completed its first oil offloading on May 30.
The startup follows Petrobras' announcement in May that the P-79 had begun production three months ahead of the schedule outlined in its 2026-2030 business plan and five months ahead of the timeline in its previous plan.
The P-79 has a production capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day and gas compression capacity of 7.2 million cubic metres per day. The vessel is expected to increase the installed production capacity of the Búzios field to about 1.33 million barrels per day.
Petrobras said the project will also enable gas exports to the mainland through an interconnection with the Rota 3 gas pipeline.
The FPSO forms part of the Búzios 8 development project, which includes 14 wells comprising eight producers and six injectors.
Located about 180 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in the Santos Basin, Búzios is Brazil's largest field by reserves and one of the world's largest deepwater oil developments. The P-79 is the eighth FPSO operating at the field, where production exceeded 1 million barrels per day in 2025.
The Búzios consortium comprises Petrobras as operator, Chinese partners CNOOC and CNODC, and PPSA, which manages the production-sharing contracts.