Busy operator Petrobras has submitted declarations of commerciality for both its Transfer of Rights deepwater pre-salt fields Franco and Tupi South to Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP), as well as for its pre-salt Carioca oil field.
In the proposal it also revealed that on Tupi South it is planning to develop the field via a subsea tieback to the floating production system planned for the Extreme South module of the Lula field, which is due to flow first oil in the first quarter of 2017.
Petrobras has also proposed to the ANP to rename both Franco and Tupi South in the Santos Basin as Búzios and Sul de Lula (South of Lula), respectively.
For the latter, Petrobras confirmed that the volume contracted through the Transfer of Rights Agreement for the Sul de Tupi area of 128 MMboe was confirmed during the exploratory phase. The pre-salt reservoirs in this field contain good quality oil of 27º API. The company acquired 3D seismic data for the entire area and drilled a well, as provided for in the Mandatory Exploratory Plan.
Sul de Lula lies nearly 300 km offshore in a water depth of approximately 2,200 m (7,218 ft).
On the much larger Franco – now Búzios – field, the volume contracted through the Transfer of Rights Agreement for the area of 3.058 Bboe was also confirmed in the exploratory phase. The pre-salt reservoirs in this field contain good quality oil of between 26º and 28º API.
During the execution of the Franco Mandatory Exploratory Plan, Petrobras acquired 3D seismic data for the entire area, drilled two mandatory wells and six additional ones, with the objective of delimiting and characterising reservoirs, it said. An extended formation test was also performed.
Búzios sits nearly 200 km offshore in water depths ranging from 1,600-2,100 m (5,250-6,890 ft), with Petrobras planning to use five floating production systems for the field between startup and 2020 as follows: Búzios 1 – Q3 2016, Búzios 2 – Q4 2016, Búzios 3 – Q3 2017, Búzios 4 – Q4 2017, and Búzios 5 – Q4 2019.
With the declarations of commerciality for these two fields, the formal process to review the transfer of rights agreement starts. The review will take place on a block-per-block basis, taking into consideration the technical and economic premises of each area.
Not content with pushing ahead with these two fields, however, Petrobras also submitted to the ANP as operator of the BM-S-9 Consortium a declaration of commerciality for the Carioca oil field, also in the Santos Basin.
The operator said it had also recommended that the field, which contains good quality oil of approximately 26º API, should be renamed Lapa. The pre-salt field is estimated by Petrobras to have total recoverable reserves of 459 MMboe.
Lapa is located 270 km offshore São Paulo in a water depth of 2,140 m (7,021 ft). Along with the declaration of commerciality, the consortium submitted to the ANP the ‘Final Report of the Discovery Evaluation Plan’, which was prepared as of the first well drilled in 2007.
3D seismic data was gathered, five wells drilled, three formation tests and an extended well test carried out in the Carioca area, it said.
Consortium BM-S-9 is operated by Petrobras (45%), in partnership with BG E&P Brasil (30%) and Repsol Sinopec Brasil (25%).
The Lapa Field Development Plan will be submitted to the ANP within 180 days, with first oil for this field planned by the third quarter of 2016.
In 2011 the consortium declared the commerciality of the Sapinhoá field (formerly Guará), also in the same block. Sapinhoá currently produces around 30,000 b/d of oil to the FPSO Cidade de São Paulo via one well. Additional wells will be connected in the early part of 2014.
Partner BG added that the consortium is working to achieve further optimisation of the development plan following “encouraging results” from the recent Carioca SW appraisal well drilled in October this year.