Gene Kliewer
Technology Editor, Subsea & Seismic
These days coverage of E&P activity across Latin America starts in Brazil and includes a discussion of presalt/subsalt discoveries offshore in deepwater. A quick look at the most recent drilling results gives a strong indication of the reason behind all the attention:
• BG Group reports a drillstem test on the Tupi North-East well 3-BRSA-755A-RJS in 2,115 m (6,939 ft) of water in the BM-S.11 appraisal area of the Santos basin presalt, which flowed at a rate of 5,000 b/d of 28º API oil.
• OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações reports an oil-bearing interval in the Albian section of well 1-OGX-6-RJS, drilled by the Diamond Offshore rigOceanQuest in Campos basin shallow-water block BM-C-41 block.
• That followed an oil find by OGX at the 1-OGX-5-RJS well in block BM-C-43 in the shallow waters of southern Campos basin.
• Well 1-OGX-2A-RJS in Campos basin block BM-C-41 encountered oil in Upper Cretaceous reservoirs, according to OGX.
• Anadarko Petroleum's Wahoo No. 2 (also called Wahoo North) appraisal/exploration well in the Campos basin encountered more than 90 ft (295 m) of high-quality net oil pay in the same pre-salt interval as the original Wahoo discovery, the company says.
• Petrobras has begun extended well testing following the installation of the semisubmersible platformSS-11 Atlantic Zephyr in exploratory block BM-S-40 in the Santos basin's Tiro e Sídon areas.
• Two formation tests on well 4-RJS-647 (4-BRSA-711-RJS) in the Santos basin's Tupi area have proved high productivity of presalt carbonate reservoirs, according to Petrobras.
• Back in Campos, Petrobras has hit pay with exploratory well 6-BR-63A-RJS.
• Campos basin exploration well 3-MA-32A hit 30-m (98-ft) thick reservoirs of good porosity and permeability, Petrobras reports.
P-61 tension leg wellhead platform.
Chevron says Papa Terra will cost $5.2 billion and recover an estimated 380 MMbbl of heavy oil. Papa Terra is 70 mi (110 km) offshore in 3,900 ft (1,190 m) of water in block BC-20 of the Campos basin. The project will have the first TLP offshore Brazil.
Petrobras has awarded FMC Technologies a four-year subsea tree frame agreement. FMC's scope of supply includes the manufacture of up to 107 subsea trees and related tools for use offshore Brazil in water depths of 6,500 ft (2,000 m).
Petrobras has awarded Subsea 7 a $200-million engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning (EPIC) contract for the Roncador field, offshore Brazil. Subsea 7 will engineer, procure, fabricate, install, and commission a 12-in. (30-cm) diameter gas export line totaling 38.7 km (24 mi) and a 12-in. (30-cm) diameter oil export line totaling 42 km (26 mi). The pipelines will connect theP-55 platform to the PRA-1platform.
Political play in the subsaltProposed legislation in Brazil would create production-sharing contracts with Petrobras for all oil and gas from subsalt layers and in "strategic areas."
The idea is to use proceeds from subsalt hydrocarbons for social and economic development without infringing on the rights of private companies now active offshore. In an area still divided over the nationalization of oil and gas assets in Venezuela, and in a country where Petrobras was once thought of as "a government within a government," the legislation has myriad rival interests and is likely to take months to resolve. The bills did go to Congress "with urgency" in an effort to maintain existing schedules for subsalt hydrocarbon developments.
The main beneficiary of the new legislation as it stands now would be state-owned Petrobras. The national oil company would be the official operator of all subsalt hydrocarbons with some considerations that allow private participation.
The federal government, for example, would be free to hire Petrobras exclusively for subsalt E&P if it wishes, or to conduct public bids with the free participation of any company, according to Petrobras. In areas subject to public bids, Petrobras will have a minimum interest of 30%, with the additional right to participate in bidding processes to increase its interest in those areas. The new rules would be similar to existing ones, except Petrobras would be the operator.
New ideas in the proposals would bring some of the most significant changes in the regulatory structure since the massive liberalization reforms that broke the Petrobras monopoly upstream. Two of those concepts are defined by Petrobras as:
1. "Profit oil" refers to production from a certain field, after deduction of costs and expenses related to oil production
2. "Cost oil" corresponds to costs and investments made by the contracted party for exploration and production activities.
Another change would be the idea of a subscription bonus defined on a case-by-case basis by CNPE. Royalty payments likely would continue to follow the terms of Law No. 9,478 of Aug. 6, 1997.
Petrobras has signed a $500-million frame agreement with Cameron for 138 subsea trees for projects offshore Brazil. Installation will be supported by 18 sets of running tools. Initial delivery is scheduled to begin in 2011.
Petrobras has awarded FMC Technologies a $90-million contract to supply a subsea separation system for the Marlim field in the Campos basin. FMC's scope of supply consists of a subsea separation and pumping system. The subsea separation module will separate heavy oil, gas, sand, and water in a water depth of approximately 2,950 ft (900 m).
According to FMC, this is the first deepwater deployment of subsea separation technologies in a mature field, and the first separation of heavy oil and water in a subsea environment in the world. It will also be the first separation system to include subsea re-injection of water into a reservoir to boost production.
Petrobras also has awarded Aker Solutions a contract to supply three PLETs, two rigid jumpers, tools, and accessories for theP-55 platform on the Roncador field.
Additionally, Subsea 7 has awarded Aker Solutions a contract for two sets of 12-in. (30-cm) PLETs, one set of 12-in. (30-cm) ILT (t-shaped pipeline), tools, and accessories for the platform.
Aker Solutions also has a $37-million contract to supply eight Mobo subsea boosting systems and one emergency valve (ESDV) for the Jubarte field in the Campos basin, offshore Brazil.
Operators in Brazil are not resting on their wildcatting success. ION Geophysical has acquired an additional 28,000 km (17,398 mi) of regional seismic data covering Brazil's southern Santos, Pelotas, and northeastern Equatorial basins.
The BrasilSPAN program, which contains 42,000 km (26,097 mi), offers the first contiguous dataset of Brazil's coastline, the company says.
Pelotas dataset, in combination with ION's CongoSPAN program offshore Angola, should provide geoscientists with a deeper understanding of the continental break-up between Brazil and Africa by highlighting potential conjugate ties in the southern Atlantic, the company says.
PeruBPZ Resources has completed the 19D well offshore Peru with a sustained initial production rate of approximately 1,700 b/d of oil. At last report, the company is drilling the next Corvina field well, 17D, targeting a proved undeveloped location.
The company has applied for an extended well testing (EWT) permit for the first five Corvina field wells, not including 19D and 17D. BPZ has ordered reinjection equipment for the CX11 platform and plans to transition the field out of the EWT and into commercial production by May 31.
Also offshore Peru, BPZ has completed the A-14XD well on the Albacora field with an initial production rate of 2,300 b/d of oil from an oil zone lower than any of the oil zones tested in the discovery well drilled by Tenneco in 1972. The well produced consistently with no apparent increase in its gas-oil-ratio and with no formation water.
BPZ is installing processing facilities at the platform, and has shut-in the A-14XD well and suspended drilling of the A-15D well until work is complete. Installation of the facilities is estimated to take approximately four weeks, at which time A-15D drilling is expected to restart.
SCAN Geophysical has completed acquisition of 1,251 mi (2,013 km) of 2D data over block Z34 offshore northern Peru for Gold Oil using the seismic vessel M/V SCAN Stigandi. An initial assessment of data indicates the presence of sedimentary sections that correlate with the same producing layers containing crude oil reserves in the neighboring Z2B block, according to Gold Oil.
VenezuelaVenezuela has taken a step back in history with the nationalization of its petroleum operations. Late last year, Cardón IV S.A., a joint operating company of Eni and Repsol, has made a gas discovery with the Perla 1X well, offshore Venezuela. The well reportedly encountered a 240-m (775-ft) hydrocarbon column.
According to the company, Perla is the largest gas discovery in Venezuela. The field has a reserve potential higher than the 6 tcf (1 Bboe) previously estimated.
During production testing, the well produced high quality gas with a capacity of 600,000 cu m/d (approximately 3,700 boe/d) and 500 b/d of condensate. Normalized gas production per well is expected to increase to over 1 MMcm/d (6,000 boe/d).
ArgentinaSome exploration work has been organized within the last few months. ION Geophysical has completed the data processing and interpretation for its ArgentineSPAN basin-scale seismic program offshore Argentina.
ArgentineSPAN contains approximately 11,800 km (7,332 mi) of new, regional data off the Argentine Southern Atlantic margin from the international boundary between Argentina and Uruguay to the southern tip of the Argentine mainland offshore Tierra del Fuego.
The program provides high-resolution images of prospective targets in all of the basins offshore Argentina and offers a new understanding of the petroleum systems and prospectivity of the offshore oil and gas potential for Argentina, the company says.
MexicoMexico's state oil company Pemex is in a political box that has resulted in continuing decline in offshore oil and gas production from the GoM. Pemex is required to be the operator in the country. For operations, Pemex will have to get technical assistance from IOCs. That requires some amending of the political climate in the country.
Nevertheless, Pemex hopes new deepwater production will help Mexico sustain about 3.3 MMb/d of production. It is estimated that over half of Mexico's potential petroleum resources (29.9 Bboe) are in deepwater and Pemex has contracted five deepwater rigs.
Pemex has awarded GX Technology a three-year contract to provide seismic data processing and imaging services for multiple offshore projects. The scope of services includes velocity model building and pre-stack depth migration using beam migration and reverse time migration.
Pemex also has hired CGG Veritas for a five-year, $464-million deepwater seismic survey contract. The deal is one of the largest exploration contracts in the history of the company, with more than 75,000 sq km (28,958 sq mi) of 3D seismic data to be acquired.
The survey will set the stage for Pemex to begin new deepwater GoM exploration and production projects, where some 30 Bbbl are thought to exist, or more than half of the country's total petroleum reserves. Pemex already had awarded Fugro and Constructora Subacuatica Diavaz (CSD) a $15-million contract for a multi-site high resolution geophysical and geotechnical survey.
Peregrino is 85 km (53 mi) off the coast of Brazil in a water depth of up to 100 m (328 ft). This map also indicates the general vicinity of Brazil's offshore basins.More Offshore Issue Articles
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