Petrobras is pressing ahead with its ongoing Brazilian presalt program, kicking off an extended production test on the giant deepwater Lula Field area in the Santos Basin.

Just recently the Brazilian major reported that oil had started flowing from the 7-LL-22D-RJS well on the Lula NE pilot area. With a production potential of up to 26,000 bbl/d of oil, Petrobras said the well has been hooked up to the FPSO Cidade de Paraty via a submerged production buoy—otherwise known as a buoyancy supported riser (BSR)—which sits at a depth of 240 m (787 ft). This allows the upper part of the production flowline to be unaffected by the movement of the FPSO, allowing the use of steel catenary risers in some parts of the field which are connected to subsea wellheads in a water depth of 2,130 m (6,986 ft).

Eight steel tendons, each 1,883 m (6,176 ft) in length, connect with four mooring piles on the seabed to anchor the Subsea 7-built and deployed BSR, which measures 40 m by 52 m (131 by 170 ft) and weighs 1,936 tons. The buoy is capable of stabilizing pipes from up to four production wells and three injection wells.

On April 1, the installation of the SCRs was completed for the interconnection of the first three oil production wells to the BSR, while well 7-LL-22D-RJS was connected to the FPSO on May 5, with the installation of its flexible pipelines. A second buoy already has been installed and is ready to receive the SCRs used for production and injection.

FPSO Cidade de Paraty went into operation on June 6, 2013, via well 7-LL-11-RJS, which is directly connected to the floater and produces 30,000 bbl/d. An additional six wells will be connected to the unit this year in total, four production and two injection wells, and all via the buoys. This, said Petrobras, will enable the FPSO to reach its full production capacity of 120,000 bbl/d during third-quarter 2014.

Lula is operated by Petrobras (65%) in partnership with BG E&P Brasil Ltda (25%) and Petrogal Brasil S.A (10%).

  • Production platform P-62, one of the strategic projects in Petrobras’ 2014-2018 Business and Management Plan, started producing on 12 May on the deepwater Roncador Field in the Campos Basin.

The 60,500 ton facility, located in a water depth of 1,600 m (5,250 ft), is an integral part of the Module 4 phase of the project. A total of 22 wells, 14 of them oil and gas production and eight water injection, will be connected to the FPSO, which has a processing capacity of up to 180,000 bbl/d of oil and 6 MMcm/d of gas.

The unit will operate in conjunction with the existing platforms P-52, P-54 and P-55, already installed on Roncador.