Total, together with its partners, have announced the launch of Phase 3 of development for the Mero deepwater oil project. The field is situated about off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Luiz Hayum, senior analyst on Wood Mackenzie’s Latin America upstream team, commented on the decision: “Today’s announcement is positive news. Mero Phase 3 is the first major deepwater project sanctioned since the oil crash earlier this year.” Mero 1 is progressing as scheduled with startup in 2021. The Mero 2 startup is expected in 2023 and Mero 3 will start operating by 2024.