Libra Consortium Reaches FID for Mero Field’s Innovative Subsea Tech
(Credit: TotalEnergies)
Libra Consortium has taken the final investment decision (FID) to develop an innovative natural gas and CO2 separation and reinjection facility for the Mero 3 project in the Brazilian deep offshore pre-salt.
The pilot unit, using a pioneer high pressure subsea separation technology (HISEP), will separate oil from CO2-rich gas at the bottom of the ocean and reinject the gas directly into the reservoir.
This technology has the potential to reduce the amount of gas sent to the topside FPSO, thus enabling to reduce the GHG emissions intensity while increasing the field production capacity.
Petrobras, operator of the Mero field (38.6%), has earlier in January awarded a contract worth over $1 billion to TechnipFMC, covering engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (iEPCI) of the HISEP at Marechal Duque de Caxias FPSO (Mero 3 project), which is currently under construction.
“TotalEnergies is proud to participate to the development of this new technology in the Mero field. In addition to its benefits in Brazil, it should find applications for other projects within the Company. Such innovation fits with TotalEnergies’ approach to develop its businesses while reducing its emissions and costs, to improve its competitiveness in a sustainable way”, said Namita Shah, President, OneTech at TotalEnergies.
Mero is a unitized field, developed by Libra Consortium, which aside from Petrobras, includes TotalEnergies (19.3%), Shell Brasil (19.3%), CNPC (9.65%), CNOOC (9.65%) and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A (PPSA) (3.5%).
