Petrobras delays restart of P-52 platform after gas leak investigation

Brazilian state-controlled oil producer Petrobras says its P-52 offshore production platform has remained shut down for the past nine months following a flammable gas leak, with the company still unable to provide a timetable for resuming operations. A working group that includes specialists from Petrobras's research centre has until October to finalise its assessment of options for restarting the platform, according to the company's executive director of engineering, technology and innovation, who said it remains unclear whether production will resume before the end of the year.

The emergency shutdown, which occurred roughly nine months ago, is suspected to have been caused by a rupture in a gas-lift riser connected to the platform. A subsequent inspection of the platform's remaining gas-lift risers identified similar degradation in another riser, raising the prospect that further remedial work may be needed before the facility can safely return to service. Brazil's oil regulator has said it instructed Petrobras not to resume operations until the company completed a full investigation into the failure, implemented corrective measures and demonstrated that no critical operational safety risks remained, adding that Petrobras had yet to provide evidence that those conditions had been met.

P-52 is one of four platforms producing oil and gas at the Roncador field, which is operated by Petrobras with a majority stake alongside a minority partner. The field sits within the Campos Basin off Brazil's southeastern coast, an area where production peaked more than a decade ago before beginning a gradual decline. Petrobras has outlined a multi-billion-dollar spending plan as part of its current strategic plan aimed at revitalising the basin's older fields.

The P-52 platform began operations in 2007 with a design capacity considerably above its recent output, having been producing well below that level even before the shutdown occurred. None of the platforms currently operating in the Campos Basin are running at full capacity, according to Petrobras, reflecting the broader maturity of the fields the basin now supports.

With the working group's assessment not due until October, P-52 is likely to remain offline for at least several more months, extending an outage that has already stretched close to a year and underscoring the operational challenges Petrobras faces in restoring ageing infrastructure in one of its longest-producing offshore basins.