Offshore staff
RIO DE JANEIRO – Production testing is under way at the FPSO Cidade Angra dos Reis, stationed in the deepwater Tupi area in the Santos Basin pre-salt cluster in the BMS-11 block.
The FPSO is connected initially to the RJS-660 well, which will undergo technical testing until Petrobras issues a Declaration of Commerciality (DC) for the Tupi field, expected in late December. By that point, connection of the floater to other producing wells will be completed, and the Tupi area will enter the production development phase.
The new floater is stationed close to the FPSO Cidade de São Vicente, which has been performing an extended well test on Tupi since May 2009, and which to date has produced around 7 MMbbl of oil.
Petrobras says the pilot system, which will start after the DC has been submitted, will provide critical information on the reservoir and production. These data will be factored into the design of future systems operating in the pre-salt.
The results should also assist with well construction and subsea production gathering projects, and in assessing how different oil recovery methods perform in the reservoir.
To date, nine wells have already been drilled in the Tupi accumulation. The latest (ninth) well, completed last week, confirmed Petrobras’ reovery estimate of 5-8 BBoe.
It also proved that the oil accumulation extends to the far south of the Assessment Plan area, and that the oil-bearing reservoir is about 128 m (420 ft) thick, reducing hydrocarbon volume estimate uncertainties in the area. Petrobras has slated two further wells, to be drilled by late December.
The FPSO Cidade de Angra dos Reis, moored in a water depth of 2,149 m (7,050 ft), has been chartered from Modec. It can produce up to 100,000 b/d of oil and process up to 5 MMcf/ off gas per day. At peak, six oil-producers, a gas injector, a water injector, and an aalternating gas/water injector will be connected to the vessel.
Produced oil will be transferred to shuttle tankers. Gas will be separated from the oil onboard the FPSO. Some of the gas may be used for on board power generation, and some quantities may be reinjected into the oil reservoir or exported to shore via a gas pipeline. The latter will connect the FPSO to the Mexilhão platform, which operates a gas field in shallow waters in the same basin.
From Mexilhão, the gas will flow to the Monteiro Lobato Gas Treatment Unit, currently under construction in Caraguatatuba in São Paulo state.
Earlier this month, Petrobras brought on stream the Canapu field, Brazil’s first deepwater gas production project, in water depths of 1,600 m (5,249 ft).
Canapu has potential to produce 2MMcm/d through a single well (ESS-138) connected to the FPSO Cidade de Vitória. This FPSO also produces gas from the Golfinho field.
The Canapu well is 22 km from the platform. To prevent hydrate formation, Petrobras commissioned a pipe-in-pipe, comprising a 6-in. (15-cm) diameter pipe inserted into a 12-in. (30.5-cm) pipeline.
10/28/2010
