Enauta extends Brazilian FPSO charter

Brazilian oil and gas company Enauta has signed agreements with Altera to extend the charter, operation, and maintenance of Petrojarl I FPSO for the Early Production System (EPS) of the Atlanta field located offshore Brazil.

Located 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.

As informed by Enauta on Wednesday, the agreements will have an additional duration of up to two years, and their expiration was extended from May 2023 to May 2025. The cost to adapt the unit will be $30 million. The extension is contingent upon the issue of the DNV Certificate before the expiration of the current agreement.

Carlos Mastrangelo, Enauta COO, commented: “This new term promotes the operational continuity of the Atlanta field and may enable the temporary and simultaneous operation of the EPS and the Definitive System, if approved, optimising the transfer time of FPSO Petrojarl I wells to the new FPSO of the Definitive System.”

It is worth reminding that Enauta last December signed a Letter of Intent with Malaysia’s Yinson for the provision of an FPSO vessel, which is planned to be used for the Definitive System of the Atlanta field.

Mastrangelo added: “Another gain from the extension is the maintenance of Atlanta’s operating cash flow for more than a year, since the interruption of production between the end of the EPS and the startup of the DS may be avoided. In addition, the increase in water treatment capacity will reduce future restrictions of the existing production plant.”

According to Enauta, a 35-day production stoppage is planned so maintenance can be carried out on equipment that needs to be turned off. The company is working to ensure that these activities are carried out at the same time as the periodic stoppages established by the Ministry of Labor, thus reducing the need for additional downtime.

Speaking of production stoppage, Enauta last week stopped producing from the Atlanta field for inspection and repair of a production line of the FPSO Petrojarl I. The company also experienced difficulties on the field several times last year.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian company is continuing the bidding process, which started in March 2021, for the FPSO and other equipment for the DS of Atlanta as planned. The bidding considers an FPSO with a capacity to process 50 thousand barrels of oil per day, to which 6 to 8 producing wells will be connected, including the 3 wells already in operation in the EPS.

Enauta is evaluating the proposals received in order to make its Final Investment Decision (FID) in the first quarter of 2022 and begin production in the DS in mid-2024.