A consortium of TotalEnergies with Shell and Repsol, has started producing oil at the Lapa South-West project, a new development in the Lapa field, located in the Santos Basin, approximately 300 km offshore Brazil.
The Lapa South-West project will increase production from the Lapa field by 25,000 bpd, bringing the field’s total production to around 60,000 bpd. The development of the project consists of the subsea tie-back of three wells to the Lapa Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit, enabling the development of additional reserves while leveraging the available capacity of the existing Lapa FPSO.
TotalEnergies (operator) holds 48% working interest in the project, with Repsol Sinopec Brazil and Shell holding 25% and 27%, respectively.
The project represents a significant addition to the portfolios of all three companies.
“The start-up of our operated Lapa South-West project marks another important milestone for TotalEnergies in Brazil, a key growth country for our company,” said Nicolas Terraz, President Exploration & Production of TotalEnergies. “This project, which leverages the available capacity of the existing Lapa facilities, delivers low cost and low emission oil production in line with our company strategy and contributes to the achievement of our objective to grow our production by 3% per year until 2030”.
TotalEnergies has been operating in Brazil for 50 years and employs around 4,000 people in the country. Its Exploration & Production portfolio currently includes nine licenses, of which four are operated. In 2025, the company’s average production in the country was 184,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day. This start-up represents a ramping up of TotalEnergies’ portfolio in Brazil, following the start-up of Mero-4 in May 2025, and ahead of the start-ups of Atapu-2 and Sépia-2 expected in 2029.
“The start-up of Lapa Southwest is another example of our strong track record of efficient delivery on the key projects where we have taken FID in recent years. This enables us to continue high-grading our upstream portfolio,” added José Carlos Vicente Bravo, Executive Director of International E&P at Repsol.
Repsol Sinopec, is a joint venture formed by Repsol (60%) and Sinopec (40%) is today the one of the largest oil and gas exploration and production companies in Brazil with a strong portfolio focused on offshore pre-salt assets, including producing fields such as Albacora Leste, Lapa, and Sapinhoá, and growth projects such as Raia. It was the first private company to participate in the opening of the Brazilian pre-salt exploration market, and has invested significantly in the country over the past decade
Shell, meanwhile, is the second largest oil and gas producer in Brazil after Petrobras, with investments including the Gato do Mato, a deep-water project in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil for which it took FID last year, as well as the Atapu and Mero pre-salt projects, also in the Santos Basin. Shell is committed to growing its high margin portfolio in Brazil, viewing its assets in the country as among the most competitive in its global portfolio.
