Petrobras Doubles Buzios Gas Export Capacity With Membrane Retrofits, Not New Platforms

Petrobras lifted average natural gas exports from the Buzios pre-salt field past 10 million cubic metres per day for the first time in a month, and it credits retrofits to existing floating units rather than any new production system. The company said the average reached 10.8 million cubic metres per day, and reported a single-day record of 14.1 million cubic metres per day on August 6.

That daily figure topped the previous peak of 13.9 million cubic metres per day set in July. The prior monthly high was 9.1 million cubic metres per day, recorded in March 2026.

The mechanism is brownfield debottlenecking. Petrobras modernised the gas treatment plants on the P-74, P-75, P-76 and P-77 platforms, replacing the membranes that strip carbon dioxide out of the produced stream. The project, started in 2025 and in its final deployment phase, doubled export capacity on those units from about 1.5 million to 3 million cubic metres per day per platform.

Petrobras attributes the overall advance to the start-up of Rota 3 and to the implementation of optimisation projects. The FPSO Almirante Barroso also contributed to the result, according to the company.

The scale of the shift over a year is the number that travels furthest for anyone modelling South Atlantic gas supply. Average daily exports from the field stood at 4.7 million cubic metres per day in July 2024, on data released by the company.

Buzios sits roughly 180 kilometres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in ultra-deep water at about 2,100 metres. The field is in the pre-salt of the Santos Basin.

More export capacity is queued behind the retrofits. Petrobras expects gas export systems on the P-78 and P-79 platforms to enter operation by 2027. At the end of field development, eight of the 12 planned platforms will carry gas export capacity.

The last of that set, Buzios 12, is scheduled to start operating in 2032 with estimated capacity of 5.5 million cubic metres per day.

The distinction Petrobras draws matters for capital allocation debates now running across offshore portfolios worldwide. Doubling per-platform export throughput by swapping CO2 removal membranes on four floating units carries a different cost and schedule profile from sanctioning another hull, and it monetises gas that ultra-deep pre-salt reservoirs produce alongside oil rather than reinjecting or flaring it. Petrobras was explicit that the growth came from improving units already in service.

The sequencing also shows how far a debottlenecking programme can run before new steel is required. The membrane retrofit alone lifted the four platforms from about 1.5 million to 3 million cubic metres per day each, and the field cleared the 10 million cubic metres per day monthly mark on that basis. The P-78 and P-79 export systems and, later, Buzios 12 add capacity on top of a base that has already been raised without them.

Information on the August records was released by Petrobras on Wednesday the 26th.