Brazil: Enauta adds two more wells to hired rig’s backlog

Brazilian oil and gas company Enauta has decided to exercise its option to extend the contracting of a drilling rig chosen for operations on its Atlanta field, located offshore Brazil, adding two additional wells to the scope of work covered by the original contract.

Back in January 2022, Enauta entered into a time services agreement with Serviços de Petróleo Constellation and a charter agreement with London Tower Management for the contracting of the drilling rig for the drilling of the fourth well of the SPA in the Atlanta field, scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022.

The deal came on the heels of Enauta’s announcement in December 2021, confirming that the drilling of an additional well in the Early Production System (EPS) of the Atlanta field was approved, expecting to start production in early 2023.

In its latest update on Friday, Enauta informed that the Alpha Star drilling rig contract extension was exercised on 21 February 2022 to execute the additional drilling of two wells for Atlanta’s Full Development System (FDS). The company explained that the overall amount, estimated and approved, for these two additional wells was $35 million.

In addition, the firm elaborated that nine sector companies were invited to take part in the international bidding process opened by Enauta and conducted by an in-house bidding committee, which observed the company’s criteria for contract procedures. Aside from technical and operational characteristics of the drilling rig and the project, these included price, duration, terms, and conditions, safety, and environmental aspects.

The Alpha Star submersible drilling rig is capable of drilling in waters with depths of up to 9,000 feet (around 2,743 metres) and has a drilling depth capacity of up to 30,000 feet (i.e. 9,144 metres), equipped to operate at typical pre-salt depths.

Located in the Block BS-4, in the Santos Basin, the Atlanta field is operated by Enauta Energia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, which also has a 100 per cent interest in this asset. The field has been producing since 2018 through an Early Production System (EPS) – comprising three wells connected to the FPSO Petrojarl I.

To extend the charter, operation, and maintenance of this FPSO for an additional duration of up to two years, Enauta signed agreements with Altera in January 2022. Furthermore, the company also entered into an agreement for the purchase of FPSO OSX-2 for the Definitive System (DS) of the Atlanta field and the purchase deal was closed earlier in February.

Last week, Enauta confirmed the approval for the Atlanta field’s FDS and inked a firm contract with Malaysia’s Yinson for the provision, operation and maintenance of the FPSO vessel, which would be used for the field.

The startup of the project – initially with six wells – with the capacity to produce 50,000 barrels of oil and process 140,000 barrels of water per day is expected by mid-2024.