Petrobras starts early at Búzios

Mar 12, 2015

Petrobras began early production at the deepwater Búzios field offshore Brazil.

The Dynamic Producer. From Sembcorp Marine.

Búzios is located in the Santos basin, about 200km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, at 1600-2100m water depth.

Petrobras is using the Dynamic Producer floating production storage offloading (FPSO) unit to drill, which is interconnected to well 2-ANP-1-RJS. Average production will be limited to 15,000 b/d of oil, due to issues of limiting gas utilization.

Petrobras says that the early system will enable the company to produce for a six-month period and gather information to enhance the field’s first permanent production system using platform P-74, which is currently in the final phase of conversion at the Inhaúma shipyard in Rio de Janeiro.

According to Petrobras, this will be the first large scale and longest-running at the “Transfer of Rights” area, an agreement signed by the company and the Brazilian federal government that covers a set of Santos basin pre-salt areas and fields. The agreement authorizes Petrobras to carry out oil and natural gas exploration and production in these areas up to 5 billion boe, with related payments to the federal government.

In exchange for US$42 billion of Petrobras shares, the Transfer of Rights Agreement of 2010 gave Petrobras rights to explore and produce 5 billion boe from six pre-salt areas in the Santos basin: Florim, Buzios, Sul de Guara, Entorno de Iara, Sul de Lula, and Nordeste de Tupi. Petrobras discovered significant reserves in addition to the original 5 billion boe, according to the EIA.

In June 2014, the government granted Petrobras the rights to produce surplus volumes estimated at 9.8-15.2 billion boe found in the Buzios, Entorno de lara, Florim, and Nordeste de Tupi areas. Petrobras expects first production from the transfer of rights areas by 2016 and from the surplus volumes by 2021.

Petrobras announced the commerciality of in BúziosDecember of 2013.

EIA: Presalt oil and natural gas provide an increasing share of Brazil’s production