Brazil is in the process of preparing two new floating production, storage and offloading vessels, or FPSOs, to start oil and natural gas production in the country’s record-setting subsalt frontier, state-led producer and refiner Petrobras said Thursday. The FPSO P-69 arrived at the Brasfels shipyard in Angra dos Reis, south of Rio de Janeiro, on Tuesday, Petrobras said. The vessel will have 18 processing modules installed onboard before heading out to start production at the Lula Extremo Sul area of the massive Lula Field in 2018, the company said. The new floating production units are part of eight that will be installed offshore Brazil over the next two years, according to Petrobras’ investment plan for 2017-2021. The ultra-deepwater region accounted for nearly 50% of Brazil’s total crude output in January, including a record 1.276 million b/d of oil and 49.53 million cu m/d of natural gas from 73 wells. […]