Repsol, Eni start up Perla offshore Venezuela

Repsol, Eni start up Perla offshore Venezuela_Repsol has started up the first producing well at the giant Perla field, the largest gas discovery in the company’s history and the largest offshore gas field in Latin America, holding 17 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas in place.

Perla is located in the Cardón IV block, in shallow waters in the Gulf of Venezuela, 50 kilometers offshore. The company expects to start producing 150 million cubic feet (Mcf) of gas a day, rising to 450 Mcf/day by the end of 2015. This gas will be used for local consumption in Venezuela.

Repsol said that, in the two following phases, output will rise to 1.2 Bcf/day in 2020, a volume that would be maintained until the end of the contract in 2036.

Repsol and Italian company Eni discovered the Cardón IV block in 2009, where the consortium has drilled seven of the 26 wells planned as part of the development plan, which will feed four producing platforms that use underwater connections to transport the gas onshore for processing. The Cardón IV license is held by the Cardón IV S.A. joint venture between Repsol (50%) and Eni (50%).

Repsol starts up Perla

Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi, commented: “Eni has reached another milestone with the production start-up of the Perla offshore field, in line with the timing presented to the market in March during the Strategy presentation. Perla was for Eni one of the most significant start-up projects of 2015, and the today result confirms the validity of our development model that allowed us to reach production in an industry-leading time to market.”

The development plan includes four light offshore platforms linked by a 30” pipeline to a Central Processing Facility (CPF) located onshore at Punto Fijo (Paraguaná Peninsula) and 21 producer wells. In the CPF two treatment trains have been installed with the capability of handling 150 Mscfd and 300 Mscfd each.

The development of the field was completed in 5 years.

According to Repsol’s press release, the startup of this field is an important milestone in Repsol’s development strategy, as it is the eighth key growth project to be launched as part of Repsol’s 2012-2016 strategic plan. The other projects that are now operational are: Sapinhoá (Brazil), Mid-continent (US), AROG (Russia), Margarita-Huacaya (Bolivia), Lubina and Montanazo (Spain), Carabobo (Venezuela), and Kinteroni (Peru).

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