BG Group today announced an update on the Tupi and Guará fields in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. The update relates to the first two Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels on the Tupi field and the first FPSO on the Guará field.
The first FPSO on the Tupi field has a production capacity of 100 000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and up to 177 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd). It commenced production in October 2010. The second FPSO on the Tupi field is due onstream in 2013 and will have a production capacity of 120 000 bopd and 177 mmscfd of gas. A similar FPSO will be deployed on Guará and is also due onstream in 2013. All three FPSOs will be leased.
The gas export pipeline with capacity to service all three FPSOs is in place, linking the Tupi area to Brazilian domestic gas infrastructure via the Petrobras Mexilhão platform.
Based on the new resources estimates for these fields previously released in BG Group’s Third Quarter 2010 earnings statement, the three FPSOs are expected to recover total gross reserves of approximately 2.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) – approximately 600 million boe net to BG Group – within the concession periods, utilising a total of approximately 40 production and injection wells.
In light of the outstanding reservoir characteristics and high recovery per well, BG Group anticipates very low unit technical costs for this initial phase of development, amounting to:
* capital costs of $5/boe; and
* operating costs of $9/boe.
The key assumptions underlying this guidance are set out in the Background Notes, below.
BG Group Chief Executive Frank Chapman said: “Following our material upgrade to resources in November, the information released today should enable an improved appreciation of the value and capital efficiency of BG Group’s world-class Santos Basin assets.”
BG Group’s appraisal and modelling work on the other pre-salt discoveries continues. The Group will update the market in due course once those results enable resource estimates to be refined further.
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Source: BG Group, December 9, 2010;