Petrobras has submitted declarations of commerciality six months ahead of schedule for its deepwater Aruanã and Oliva fields in the post-salt Campos Basin, and wants to get production flowing by 2017.

The Brazilian operator submitted the declarations on 28 December to the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) for the oil and gas accumulations in concession BM-C-36 (Block C-M-401). In the proposal Petrobras suggests that the Aruanã accumulation be named Tartaruga Verde and the Oliva accumulation Tartaruga Mestiça.

The estimated total recoverable volumes for these new fields are 230 MMboe and 121 MMboe respectively.

Tartaruga Verde lies 127 km from Macaé in Rio de Janeiro state, in a water depth of 976 m (3,202 ft). The reservoir sits at a depth of 2,993 m (9,820 ft), with an oil/water contact (OWC) verified at 3,123 m (10,247 ft).

Tartaruga Mestiça is approximately half a kilometre north- east of Tartaruga Verde, at a water depth of 934 m (3,064 ft), at a reservoir depth of 2,870 m (9,416 ft). An oil/water contact (OWC) was verified at 3,064 m (10,053 ft).

Both accumulations contain good quality oil (27º API), says

Petrobras, and are located in Albian-age carbonate reservoirs. The operator also sent the ANP the final report of the Discovery Assessment Plan (1-BRSA-713-RJS – discovery well), initiated in 2010, whose exploratory program resulted in the delimitation of these two accumulations.

During the PAD period five wells were drilled, three of which were in the Tartaruga Verde area and two in the Tartaruga Mestiça area. In addition to this, four cased-hole drillstem tests and two extended well tests (EWTs) were car- ried out. The results of these EWTs indicated excellent productivity and revealed information on the characteristics of the reservoirs that will be essential for the optimisation of the development plans, it added.

Petrobras highlighted that the declarations of commerciality were made more than six months ahead of schedule, considering the 30 June, 2013 deadline of the formal assessment plan. “This makes it possible to start the definitive production of these areas by 2017, as considered in the 2012-2016 Business and Management Plan,” it stated.

Petrobras has a 100% stake in these fields.