PetroRio closes Wahoo field stake buy from TotalEnergies

July 9, 2021, by Bojan Lepic

Brazilian oil and gas company PetroRio has completed the acquisition of interest in the BM-C-30 block containing the Wahoo field offshore Brazil from French oil major TotalEnergies.

Petro Rio said on Thursday that Brazil’s National Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) approved the acquisition of 28.6 per cent in the Wahoo field acquired from Total E&P do Brasil.

The company bought an initial 35.7 per cent interest in the BM-C-30 block from BP in November 2020. The deal also included the buy of the 60 per cent interest in the BM-C-32 block which holds the Itaipu field. PetroRio completed the acquisition from BP in mid-June 2021.

The company then signed an agreement with TotalEnergies for the acquisition of a 28.6 per cent interest in the BM-C-30 block in March this year.

With this transaction closed, PetroRio now holds a 64.3 per cent interest in Wahoo and aims to create a second production cluster through the tieback between Wahoo and the Frade field, in line with the operational optimisation strategy for the assets. Wahoo’s first oil is expected to happen in early 2024.

The Wahoo field has more than 125 million barrels classified as 1C resources, in addition to approximately 7 million 1C barrels to be added to the Frade Field, due to its life extension.

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.

The Wahoo development will allow the company to create another production cluster that 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.