Offshore staff
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's national energy giant Petrobras recently announced the approval of a technical and economic viability study (TEVS) for the development of the Mexilhão gas pole, reportedly the largest natural gas production project to date in the Santos basin.
The TEVS covers the project and offshore gas production and flow system hiring process, which will include a platform. The Mexilhão project is expected to produce up to 15 MMcm/d of gas and 20,000 b/d of condensate. With a budget of $2 billion, the project will involve the installation of a megaplatform, to be positioned between the Mexilhão field and an onshore gas treatment unit to be built in the municipality of Caraguatatuba.
The platform, Mexilhão 1 (PMXL-1), will be a 230-m tall fixed platform, twice the height of Petrobras' 26-story office building in Rio de Janeiro. It will receive the gas and condensate produced at the pole and is expected to go online in the first half of 2009. Within 2 to 3 years of operation, the platform should reach its maximum production capacity of 15 MMcm/d.
Mexilhão is part of Petrobras' larger production expansion scheme in the Santos basin. During the next 10 years, Petrobras and its partners plan to invest some $18 billion in E&P activities in the basin. By the end of 2008, the company plans to add 12 MMcm/d of Santos basin gas to its total production, and by the end of 2010, this volume will most likely surge to about 30MMcm/d.
In order to meet this goal, Petrobras foresees a total of five production poles in the Santos basin area. In addition to Mexilhão, these are:
Merluza
This pole, located about 200 km from Santos, currently produces 1.2 MMcm/d of gas and 1,600 b/d of condensate. Petrobras will enhance production at the existing Merluza-1 platform to lift production to 2.5 MMcm/d by 2008, and will install the Merluza-2 platform, capable of producing 8 MMcm/d of gas and 25,000 b/d of oil and condensate.
BS-500
Located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state and about 160 km from the capital city, this pole will include gas and oil production systems. The field has the potential to produce some 20 MMcm of gas and 200,000 b/d of oil.
Sul
Located about 200 km off the coast of the states São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina, this pole contains the Coral platform, which already produces 9,000 b/d of oil. Future developments in the field, including the start up of the Cavalo-Marinho field in 2008, are expected to yield about 140,000 b/d of oil and 3 MMcm/d of gas.
Centro
This pole is located about 250 km from the coasts of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and is still in the exploratory stage. Petrobras nevertheless believes this area holds great potential, and should this potential become a reality, the company may send the gas to the Mexilhão platform and transfer to Caraguatatuba for treatment.
8/11/2006
