Brazilian field revitalisation shaping up as second well comes on stream

Brazilian oil and gas company PRIO, formerly known as PetroRio, has started production from another well located in a field within the Northern Campos Basin off the coast of Brazil.

As part of PRIO’s plans to create a production cluster through the tieback between the Wahoo and Frade fields, a development plan was submitted to the National Petroleum Agency, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) in December 2021.

Several months later, in April 2022, the firm confirmed the receipt of the operating licence, issued by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), for the drilling of new wells on the Frade field.

Ocyan’s semi-submersible Norbe VI rig, which PRIO hired last year for the Frade field revitalisation campaign and the Wahoo field development, mobilised in April to start working on its drilling assignment.

After the first well was drilled, PRIO revealed in July 2022 that it had started production at the ODP4 well in the Frade field, as part of the field’s revitalisation campaign.

In an update on Monday, PRIO informed about the start of production of the second well in the Frade revitalisation plan – well 7-FR-55H-RJS (MUP3A) – with average initial production of approximately 3,500 barrels of oil per day over the first week. This has raised the Brazilian player’s current production to 52,000 barrels per day.

According to the company, the MUP3A well was executed in 40 days, at a cost of approximately $22 million and used the subsea structure and part of the MUP3 well, which is not producing. Furthermore, the Brazilian company explains that the Norbe VI rig has already started drilling the first injector well on the field.

In addition, the firm will provide updates on new developments in the execution of the revitalisation plan for the Frade field, which is a subsea development with wells tied back to a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

Following deals with Petrobras and Chevron in January 2021 and March 2019, respectively, PRIO owns 100 per cent interest in this field.

The Brazilian player is actively working on expanding its portfolio and, to this end, the firm recently signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement for the Albacora Leste concession with Petrobras to expand its footprint in Brazil. This deal is valued at up to $2.2 billion.