PetroRio buys more interest in Wahoo field, plans FPSO tieback

Brazilian oil and gas company PetroRio has signed an agreement with Total for the acquisition of a 28.6 per cent interest in the BM-C-30 Block, which holds the Wahoo field located offshore Brazil. PetroRio plans to tie back the Wahoo field to the Frade FPSO.

PetroRio has previously also entered into an agreement with BP for the acquisition of 35.7 per cent interest in the BM-C-30 block.

The deal with BP also included the acquisition of a 60 per cent interest in the BM-C-32 block, which holds the Itaipu field.

Together with the interest in Wahoo acquired from BP, the transaction with Total will bring PetroRio’s interest in the Wahoo field to 64.3 per cent of the concession after the acquisitions are concluded, both subject to conditions precedent, PetroRio said on Thursday.

Wahoo, with oil discoveries in 2008 and a formation test carried out in 2010, has production potential of over 140 million barrels (100 per cent of Wahoo).

The company has estimated average initial productivity of over 10,000 barrels per day per well and total production that can exceed 40,000 barrels per day in Wahoo, based on the formation test made in the pilot well.

Wahoo is located 30-35 km north of Frade in a water depth of 1,400 metres and has a carbonate reservoir at the pre-salt layer at a depth of 5,000 to 7,000 metres.

PetroRio has recently completed the acquisition of a 30 per cent interest in the Frade field from Petrobras and now holds 100 per cent of Frade and 100 per cent of the offshore units used in the field’s production development.

The Wahoo development will allow the company to create another production cluster which will share all infrastructure with the Frade field – including the FPSO.

The Wahoo base project covers the drilling of four producer wells and two injector wells, and the tieback between the wells and the Frade FPSO.

The expected capex of the project is composed of $300 million for the tieback, $360 million for well drilling, $100 million for subsea equipment, and $40 million for adjustments to the Frade FPSO and other items.