Equinor’s Bacalhau field set to require US$8.5bn

The first development phase of Equinor’s Bacalhau field, off Brazil’s southeast coast, will demand around US$8.5bn, ANP’s director Simone Araújo said Thursday during a board meeting of the oil and gas watchdog. 

The project located between the BM-S-8 and Norte de Carcará blocks is expected to generate 400 direct jobs and approximately US$30bn in royalties and other fees for the government during the concession period, which runs to 2053. 

Araújo was the rapporteur of the Norwegian company’s request for approval of the Santos basin undertaking’s first development phase plan, which foresees the drilling of 19 wells and the installation of an FPSO chartered from Japan’s Modec. 

The ANP board decided to approve the first phase on condition that the first oil from the field be produced by July 1 this year and Equinor present a preliminary study containing proposals for the export of natural gas in the second development phase of Bacalhau.  

During the first four years of the field’s life, Equinor will reinject all the gas produced, around 14.5Mm3/d (million cubic meters a day). Oil production was not specified but the FPSO will be capable of producing 220,000b/d, making it Brazil's largest.

But the plan relies on the deployment of infrastructure in the region. A possible solution could come from Compass Gás e Energia’s (Cosan) Rota 4 and Rota 4b pipelines, which are in the permitting process at environmental regulator Ibama. 

The 270km Rota 4 is planned to connect the BM-S-8 block, in Santos basin, to a new natural gas treatment unit in Cubatão, São Paulo, while the 231km Rota 4b pipeline would link the same block to Itaguaí port in Rio de Janeiro.