Petrobras is likely to anticipate by 2 or 3 months commercial O&G production at the Tupi pre-salt field.
The initial schedule for commercial O&G production at the Tupi pre-salt field held December 31st 2010 as the maximum deadline for start-up.
The revised schedule calls for commercial production start-up to begin in September or October 2010, anticipating the production by 3 months. This will make it possible for the government to have 2 pre-salt fields in commercial production before the presidential elections, scheduled for November 2010.
Commercial production at Tupi is expected to be around 100 million barrels per day (bpd), from 5 production wells to be connected to the BW offshore FPSO Cidade de Angra, currently being adapted at a shipyard in China. The FPSO is scheduled to be completed and leave the Chinese shipyard by the end of this month, to begin the long voyage to Brazil.
Last week commercial production was initiated at the Baleia Franca pre-salt field at the Parque das Baleias area off the coast of the state of Espirito Santo, making it the first commercial pre-salt field in operation in Brazil.
Production got underway at Baleia Franca, by means of the connection of FPSO Capixaba to well 6-BFR-1-ESS. FPSO Capixaba is chartered to Petrobras by SBM, and previously operated in the Golfinho Field. To seize the opportunity to anticipate production at the Cachalote and Baleia Franca fields, an adaptation was made to the platform's process plant in order to enable the installation at Parque das Baleias.
The Baleia Franca pre-salt well has started producing approximately 13,000 barrels of light oil per day (bpd), estimated at 29 degrees API. The well is expected to reach its top capacity, of 20,000 bpd, later this year.
The FPSO is part of the Project for the Integrated Development of Cachalote and Baleia Franca and allows the two fields to be interconnected. The Platform has already been producing since last May in the Cachalote Field's pre-salt layer, through well 7-CHT-5HA-7-ESS, located 5 km away from Baleia Franca, and since June 2010 at well 7-CHT-7HP-ESS , with a total production of 44,000 bpd.
By the end of the year, the platform is expected to be connected to a total of nine wells. There will be three flow and two injector wells at Cachalote, and three flow wells, two of which in the pre-salt layer and one injector well at Baleia Franca. Production is scheduled to peak in December 2010, at an expected volume of 100,000 barrels of oil and 1.35 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
Although there have been major concerns about deepwater drilling safety since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy at the GOM, Petrobras maintains that the tragedy was caused by a series of technical errors made by BP and that there is no risk of these errors being repeated here in Brazil. Petrobras admits however the GOM tragedy is forcing a review of drilling safety procedures and also an increase or in both deepwater drilling and production safety measures.
Claudio Paschoa
Photo courtesy of Petrobras