Petrobras breaking records in Santos, Campos basins

Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras has informed that oil production in the fields that the company operates in what is known as the Pre-Salt Layer of the Santos and Campos basins passed the milestone of 470,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) on May 11th, which is a new daily production record.

This production level was achieved from 24 wells, nine of which are in the Santos Basin. As a result, the average productivity per well from the Santos Basin’s Pre-Salt Layer reached 28,000 bpd, representing an increase of almost 30% since February 2013, when the daily production record of 300,000 bpd was set.

This result is largely due to well 7-LL-22D-RJS coming into operation on May 9th. The new well, which currently generates a flow of 31,000 bpd, is connected to the FPSO Cidade de Paraty platform ship, located in the Lula field, using a Buoyancy Supported Riser (BSR). By means of this pioneering technology, the production pipeline is suspended from a submerged buoy. This is the company’s third well to be connected using BSR technology and the first to be connected to the FPSO Cidade de Paraty.

The first BSR connects two production wells to the FPSO Cidade de São Paulo, in the Sapinhoá field. The performance of the first well to be thus connected has been well above average and is already the country’s most productive well, with an average output of approximately 36,000 bpd. The second well was connected at the beginning of April and is producing at the rate of 35,000 bpd. Installation of the third BSR, also connected to the FPSO Cidade de São Paulo, and fourth BSR, connected to the FPSO Cidade de Paraty, was completed in April and May, respectively.

The FPSO Cidade de São Paulo currently produces around 100,000 bpd, from three wells, while the output of the FPSO Cidade de Paraty, stands at around 60,000 bpd, from two wells.

Over the coming months, new wells will be connected to the FPSOs Cidade de São Paulo and Cidade de Paraty using BSRs, thereby ensuring continued sustainable growth in production from the pre-salt layer, reaching the maximum capacity for this type of platform – of 120,000 bpd – in the third quarter of this year.

The Lula field is operated Petrobras (65%), in partnership with BG E&P Brasil Ltda (25%) and Petrogal Brasil S.A. (10%), while the Sapinhoá field is operated by Petrobras (45%), in partnership with BG E&P Brasil Ltda. (30%) and Repsol Sinopec Brasil S.A. (25%).