TotalEnergies to start Brazil drilling campaign in August

TotalEnergies is due to start drilling and completing the wells for the Lapa Sudoeste (southwest) offshore development in Brazil’s Santos basin pre-salt in August. 

The activity is included in the revision of the development plan (DP) for the Lapa field, the approval of which was recently recommended by oil and gas watchdog ANP's development and production superintendence. 

The review includes two modules: the main Lapa field project with development of the Lapa Nordeste (northeast) area (phase 2) and the supplementary project for the southwest area (phase 3).

Lapa Nordeste has been under development since December 2016. The drilling and interconnection of the wells in this area was completed in 2020 and the end of the project was initially planned for 2024, when the LPA-NE-I2 well (8-LPA-7D-SPS) would be able to inject water and gas. This well is now expected to inject gas on January 1, 2025. 

First oil from the southwest project is expected in August 2025. 

THE PROJECT 

Lapa is located in block BM-S-9A, in the central part of the Santos basin and 300km off the coast of Brazil. It has an area of 229km2 and an average water depth of 2,140m. 

The field uses the Cidade de Caraguatatuba FPSO, which has the capacity to produce 100,000b/d of oil and compress and process 5Mm3/d of gas. 

The water injection capacity is 120,000b/d and storage capacity is 1.6Mb of crude oil. Oil is transferred to the storage terminals by relief vessels. 

The scope of the northeast area originally included three producing wells and two injectors. The final scope of this area, after being optimized, including two more injectors and the replacement of wells 3-BRSA-861-SPS and 7-LPA-1D-SPS with 7-LPA-6D-SPS and 7-LPA-5D-SPS, leaving a final development plan with seven wells, three of which were producers and four injectors.

The Lapa Sudoeste area is being developed with three wells, two of which are producers and one a water injector. 

The need for water injection can be extended to the southwest structure by analogy with the northeast, the company says. 

In addition to the similarity and proximity of the reservoir, a small pressure reduction was observed in the southwest area after putting the northeast structure into production. 

It is possible that, after a few months of production in the southwest area, it may appear that some areas are not properly drained or that the pressure support is not sufficient, leading to the drilling of yet another water injector well, according to the French company.

Due to the high CO2 content in the gas produced at Lapa (45% in the case of Lapa northeast), gas from Lapa cannot be monetized. No plan to export gas was developed by the previous operator (state company Petrobras), and all associated gas is reinjected into the reservoir.

The unloading of the oil produced and treated in the Lapa field production unit is carried out by using Aframax or Suezmax type relieving vessels whose typical capacity to transport oil ranges from 80,000-160,000m3, with a dynamic positioning system.

BACKGROUND

The Lapa reservoir was discovered in 2007 and originates from the former BM-S-9 exploration block, acquired in the second ANP bidding round by a consortium formed by Petrobras (operator - 45%), BG E&P Brasil (30%) and Repsol Brasil (25%). 

In January 2015, the first revision of the field's DP was submitted to the ANP by Petrobras.

In February 2017, TotalEnergies acquired 35% from Petrobras and took over the operation in January 2018 after a transition period.

In September 2021, TotalEnergies bought the remaining 10% from Petrobras, taking a 45% stake in the field. In December 2018, the second revision of the Lapa DP was submitted to the ANP, with the French company as operator.

In March 2020, revision 2 of the Lapa DP was approved. ANP's board determined that revision 3 of the Lapa DP, covering the development of the southwest area, should be delivered by December 2020.

In December 2020, TotalEnergies informed the ANP that, due to the COVID crisis, the BM-S-9A consortium considered that the final investment decision for the Lapa Sudoeste project would be taken in the first quarter of 2022, and therefore requested that the delivery of the DP be postponed. 

In March 2022, the company highlighted the technical and commercial challenges of the project, requesting that the DP be delivered by March of the following year. 

One of the challenges was the flow assurance involved in the project due to the characteristics of the fluid and the 12km long subsea interconnection between the Lapa Sudoeste wells and Cidade de Caraguatatuba.

In October 2023, TotalEnergies submitted the latest version of the third revision of the development plan.