Petrobras halves the cost of post-salt well construction

Brazilian oil and gas company Petrobras has managed to halve the costs of the post-salt well construction at its Golfinho field offshore Brazil.

Petrobras on Tuesday said that it had completed the construction of the 7 GLF 49H ESS offshore well in half the time previously needed for such operation.

The Golfinho field is located in the Espírito Santo Basin 100 km from Vitória.

According to Petrobras, this was the first post-salt well built with the application of the True One Trip Ultra Slender (TOTUS) concept.

The concept consists of simplifying and reducing the time spent in the drilling and completion stages, based on optimizations and innovations inserted in the design and planning phases.

The use of TOTUS allowed the completion of this first well in only 44 days compared to the historical average of the field of 96 days, resulting in a cost reduction of approximately 50 per cent, equivalent to $30 million.

Petrobras can apply this new concept in its new wells, in several mature fields in the post-salt, in the period from 2021 to 2025, with potential for cost reduction between $20 – 35 million per well.

The TOTUS concept, developed and patented by Petrobras, is part of the company’s effort to find technological solutions that aim to reduce costs in its activities in a safe and efficient way.

The concept consists of drilling the well in only 3 phases (Ultra Slender) and the completion installed in a single manoeuvre (True One Trip), different from traditional configurations (4 or 5 drilling phases and 2 or more manoeuvres to install the completion).

Petrobras added that TOTUS can be used in certain mature fields of the post-salt where the geological and reservoir characteristics favour its application.