Spotlight: Brazil's oil and gas development plans

There are 61 oil and gas development plans (DPs) in Brazil being reviewed by watchdog ANP. 

A DP is essential for the ANP to monitor the development of a field or prospective area. It must be submitted within 180 days of the declaration of commerciality or when it needs to be revised.

State company Petrobras accounts for most of the DPs under review, with 12 registrations. 

Included in the firm’s list are the Barracuda and Caratinga fields, in the Campos basin, which are the subject of a revitalization project, calling for the installation of a new FPSO. 

The giant Tupi pre-salt field in the Santos basin, which is also expected to go through a revitalization process, is also part of Petrobras’ group of development fields being analyzed. 

Besides Petrobras, offshore operators in the list include Equinor (Raia Pintada and Raia Manta, formerly BM-C-33), Shell (Argonauta field) and BW Energia/Offshore (Camarupim, Camarupim Norte and Golfinho). 

Onshore, the highlights are 3R Petroleum (3R Bahia, 3R Candeias, 3R Macau and 3R Rio Ventura) and Petrorecôncavo (Potiguar E&P), with 10 and seven development plans under evaluation, respectively. 

Source: BNamericas based on ANP data

RECENT APPROVAL 

In all, 363 field development plans have been approved by the ANP to date, 256 onshore and 107 offshore.  

A recently approved DP is that for the Atapu, Oeste de Atapu and Norte de Atapu fields, in the Santos basin. 

The new DP envisages the drainage network of the Atapu deposit comprising two FPSOs: Atapu 1 (P-70) and Atapu 2 (P-84), which will have the capacity to produce 225,000b/d of oil and compress 10Mm3/d of natural gas. 

The Atapu 2 project includes the drilling of seven new producer wells and six new injectors, as well as the interconnection of four wells relocated from Atapu 1, making a total of nine producers and eight injectors in this module.

The oil produced and treated in the production units of the Atapu deposit will be discharged through offloading operations using Aframax or suezmax relief vessels, whose typical capacity for transporting oil ranges from 80,000m3 to 160,000m3, with a dynamic positioning system. 

The project's gas flow is planned to be achieved by connecting the FPSO to the integrated flow system, made up of the Rotas 1, 2 and 3 gas pipelines, which is designed to flow up to 44Mm3/d, including the capacity of the onshore gas processing units.

Source: ANP

With the approval of the DP, the concession contract for the Oeste de Atapu field was extended until 2057.