Oil and gas company Karoon said Wednesday that production had started from the PAT-2 at the Patola field in the BM-S-40 production license in Brazil.
The well, one of two new production wells drilled at the field, came onstream on March 15, 2023 at a rate of 12,000 – 14,000 bopd.
This followed the installation of a subsea flowline and umbilical connecting the well to the Cidade de Itajaí FPSO and the completion of well and infrastructure commissioning activities.
Production from the second well, PAT-1, is expected to start by the end of March 2023.
Karoon said that after an initial period of flush production, likely to last a few days, output from the two Patola wells is expected to stabilize at approximately 10,000 to 15,000 bopd, taking total production from BM-S-40 to more than 30,000 bopd, prior to natural decline starting.
"Depending on the reservoir and aquifer response, one of the two production wells may be switched to water injection in the future, while any associated gas production from Patola will be reinjected into the Baúna reservoir through the SPS-89 gas injection well," the company said.
The Patola field was discovered in 2011 by Petrobras with the SPS-91 exploration well, which encountered 38 degrees API oil in the same Oligocene turbidite sandstones found in nearby Baúna and Piracaba, with similar petrophysical properties. The field lies in a water depth of approximately 280 meters.
In June 2021, eight months after acquiring the BM-S-40 assets from Petrobras, Karoon announced its decision to proceed with the development of Patola.
Due to better reservoir quality than expected at both the PAT-1 and PAT-2 well locations, Proven and Probable (2P) Reserves at Patola were upgraded by 1.7 MMbbl to 16.4 MMbbl as at December 31, 2022.
Karoon Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Dr Julian Fowles, said: “Achieving first production from Patola is a major milestone for Karoon and follows the successful completion of the Baúna intervention campaign. The very high rates we have seen in this first Patola well represent flush production which is expected to decline over the next few days to rates between 5,000 and 7,500 bopd.
This is Karoon’s first new field development in Brazil and has been delivered with no material safety or environmental issues to date. The efficient execution of this project is testament to our technical, operational and commercial teams in Brazil and Australia, working closely with our service providers, and in collaboration with Altera & Ocyan, the operator of the FPSO.
I would like to thank everyone who helped deliver this exciting project, in particular those on the Noble Developer drilling rig and the team at TechnipFMC, who designed, fabricated and installed the Patola subsea infrastructure under an integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (iEPCI™) contract, the first time this style of contract has been utilized in Brazil. I look forward to providing an update on production once both wells are onstream and commissioning is complete.”