French petroleum company TotalEnergies has made a final investment decision on the Lapa South-West oil project in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. The field, located approximately 300km from the Brazilian coast, is operated by TotalEnergies with a 45% stake, with Shell and Repsol Sinopec holding 30% and 25% stakes respectively.
The project, which represents a $1 billion investment, will include three wells connected to the existing Lapa FPSO, located 12km away. Production is planned to begin in 2025.
TotalEnergies Americas exploration and production senior vice-president David Mendelson said: “This latest development is an important milestone for TotalEnergies in Brazil that will increase its operated production in the pre-salt Santos Basin, a key growth area for the company.
“With its efficient engineering approach and synergies with existing facilities, this project illustrates TotalEnergies' strategy of focusing on low cost, low emissions assets.”
The Lapa field, located in the BM-S-9 block, was discovered in 2007 and began full commercial production in 2016. The FPSO Cidade de Caraguatatuba MV27 has been operating in the field since 2016 and is currently active in the North-East part of the field.
The development of Lapa South-West is expected to increase the field's production by 25,000 barrels of oil per day, bringing the total production to 60,000 barrels per day.
Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract worth $50.4m to $151.2m by TotalEnergies for work on the Lapa field, which includes the delivery of a subsea production system and related equipment, as well as installation and other works, to be conducted in partnership with Saipem Brazil, with deliveries scheduled between Q1 2024 and Q4 2024.
TotalEnergies has been operating in Brazil for over 40 years and employs more than 3,000 people across its business segments.
