The Brazilian oil and gas company Petrobras has awarded Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) and Maersk Supply Service (MSS) the contract for the supply and installation of a Permanent Reservoir Monitoring (PRM) system on the giant Mero field offshore Brazil.
The Mero field sits deep offshore in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, 180 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
This contract includes the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the PRM system. The PRM system will be used to monitor and optimize oil production from the Mero field.
The contract includes the construction and installation of 400 kilometers of optical fibers, distributed over an area of approximately 200 km² on the ocean floor. The optical fibers will be connected to the FPSO Sepetiba, which, in connection with Petrobras' offices, will allow remote and instant access to the data generated by the monitoring system. The installation of this system will start in 2024.
Maersk Supply Service cite Petrobras as saying that the motivations for investing in a frequent, high density/high repeatability 4D scheme on Mero stems from the anticipated added value of 4D information to directly assist a production drive, based on WAG – alternating water and gas reinjection.
The PRM system for the Mero field is based on the Optowave technology developed by ASN Norway.
ASN will mobilize its resources and subcontractors in Europe and in Brazil to complete the engineering, manufacturing, installation and commissioning of Mero PRM system.
Maersk Supply Service will install the system using one of its I-Class subsea support vessels.
Optowave PRM systems installed on other offshore fields have recorded active seismic data for many years. Once captured, the data are transferred to onshore processing centers, Maersk said in the press note on Wednesday.
The acquired active seismic data are processed in order to provide high resolution images of the reservoir. These images are used to characterize the reservoir and are compared over the years to assess changes in reservoir pressure and the location and movement of the fluids. The interpretation of the PRM data will contribute to improve the reservoir management and accordingly enable to increase the oil recovery, the Danish vessel owner said.
Alain Biston, President of Alcatel Submarine Networks said, “We are delighted to cooperate with Petrobras to deploy the Optowave system, as the first pre-salt PRM with more than 4400 4-component stations in deep waters.
The operations of the unitized Mero field are conducted by the Consortium operated by Petrobras (38.6%), in partnership with Shell Brasil (19.3%), TotalEnergies (19.3%), CNPC (9.65%), CNOOC (9.65%) and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A (PPSA) (3.5%), as the Brazilian Government's representative in the non-contracted area.
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