Petrobras: Pre-Salt Layer Produced 192.4 MBOE So Far

Carlos Tadeu Fraga, Executive Manager for Petrobras’ Pre-salt Exploration and Production, announced yesterday at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC 2013) that, between 2008 and April 2013, the cumulative production from the pre-salt reservoirs in the Campos and Santos Basins has reached 192.4 million barrels of oil equivalent (oil and gas).

According to the executive, daily production exceeded 311,000 barrels per day on April 17, more than double the daily average production of 121,000 barrels in 2011. The average pre-salt production in April was 294,000 barrels per day.

Carlos Tadeu highlighted the pre-salt results during the “Megaprojects: Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges” panel this Wednesday morning, May 8. He also participated in the OTC lunch-lecture on May 7 and updated those present on the work in the pre-salt and the prospects and projects for the region.

At the events, Carlos Tadeu said there are seven platforms and 19 wells currently producing in the pre-salt of both basins. He highlighted that the average production for each well of FPSO Cidade de Angra dos Reis, in the Lula pilot project, is approximately 25,000 barrels per day, higher than the original estimates of 15,000 barrels per day. He also emphasized that FPSO Cidade de São Paulo, in Sapinhoá, will start production in January and FPSO Cidade de Paraty, allocated to Lula Nordeste, has already in place and will start production this month.

Project Management – While showing Petrobras’ experience in managing megaprojects, Carlos Tadeu said the strategy adopted for the pre-salt is an extension of the one adopted in the 1980s for the development of the Campos Basin deepwater fields.

He emphasized that the good results obtained so far in the pre-salt and the good progress made in the projects are the result of the strategy adopted in the area, which includes the acquisition of information acquired by drilling additional wells, the acquisition of new seismic data and by carrying out extended well tests, in addition to the pilot systems, allowing an adequate understanding of the area to help with defining the final projects.

The executive manager also explained to the audience how big the pre-salt is: “The total area of the province is 150,000 km2, equivalent to six thousand Gulf of Mexico blocks”, he compared. He also said the company has been able to shorten the drilling time of pre-salt wells.

“We are working extensively to reduce drilling costs, which make up 50% of capex (investments). Drilling time has dropped 50% since 2006. Back then, the average drilling time was 134 days and now it is 70 days, which is excellent”.

He emphasized the important technological advances that have been made in several areas and recognized the important team work that has been done together with Petrobras’ project partners and suppliers.

This was the third time that Petrobras presented the pre-salt project plans and results at the OTC. During the first one, in 2009, they emphasized the strategy chosen for production development in the area. During the second, in 2011, they highlighted the first results of extended well tests and the Lula field pilot project. This year, they highlighted reaching the mark of 311,000 barrels of oil produced per day in the region, only seven years after it was first discovered, as well as the advanced stage of several projects in the region.

Petrobras Business Plan for 2013-2017 forecasts that the milestone of one million barrels per day (bpd) operated by Petrobras in the pre-salt will be exceeded in 2017, reaching 2.1 million bpd in 2020. The pre-salt was discovered in 2006 with the field currently known as Lula (formerly known as Tupi), in the Santos Basin, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The first pre-salt oil was produced in September 2008 in the Jubarte field, in the Campos Basin, when a well was connected to the P-34 platform, which was already operating in post-salt reservoirs of the basin.