Campos Basin - 20 Years Project Managing Challenges

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents, from a managerial standpoint, PETROBRAS' experience in the management of several projects implemented for the development of Campos Basin, offshore Brazil, as well as the evolution of the applied technologies. Campos Basin Located southeast offshore Brazil, it is the crude most productive site of the country. The development of Campos Basin allowed Brazil to largely increase its crude production. Today, Brazil's crude production is around 900,000 bpd, 625,000 bpd (70%) of which come from Campos Basin (data acquired in December/96). Campos Basin was discovered in 1974 through the pioneer well RJS-9, located in Enchova Field. In 1976, production started in this field, utilizing a semi-submersible type structure (SEDCO 135-D) in a water depth of about 115m, flowing the production to a storage vessel moored on a square point system. After this, more wells drilled enabled PETROBRAS to outline the fields boundaries resulting in a thorough planning to exploit the Basin. This planning splitted the area into two poles: North Pole and South Pole. The concept was to gather the production of each pole in one central platform and from there send it to shore. This concept envisaged to optimize the use of equipment and flowlines and, consequently, to reduce the cost of the installations. By late 1978, a second production system went on stream at Garoupa field, utilizing a FPSO (a process ship - P. P. Moraes) moored to a process tower with a yoke type structure. The process tower gathered the production of 9 satellite wells and flowed it to the process ship through a swivel connection. Following the development of the Basin, the installations of North and South Poles. were implemented from 1979 to 1983. In 1984, a third pole was established - the Northeast Pole - to exploit a new group of oil fields. After this, the new discoveries occurred more and more in deeper water fields (above 300m), namely the giant fields Albacora, Barracuda and Marlim. The philosophy established regarding these deep water giant fields was to consider each one as a pole, gathering the oil production of each into one or more FPSO (or FSO) and flowing out to shore through shuttle tankers. The gas production is flowed out through pipelines. This paper focuses three different phases of the Campos Basin development, as follows:North and South Poles (1977 to 1983);Northeast Pole (1984 to 1988);Deep water fields (after 1985) This is a macro division comprising specific phases in which various projects were simultaneously implemented utilizing different concepts, owing to technology evolution as well as to site condition restraints. It is to be mentioned that other developments have occurred during this period and are merely listed herein.