FPSO Cidade de Angra dos Reis Beginning Production at the Tupi Field
fpsocidadedeangradosreisbeginningproductionatthetupifield
The MODEC owned and operated FPSO Cidade de Angra dos Reis MV22 has been moored in 2,150 meters (7,053 ft) at its final operational location over the giant Tupi area in the Santos Basin. O&G production operations will begin in a few weeks after on-location tests.
MODEC converted the VLCC "M/V Sunrise IV" into an FPSO at the COSCO (Dalian) Shipyard Co., Ltd. (“COSCO Dalian”) in China. The FPSO is classified by ABS as 29.7 meters in depth, 58.00 meters in breadth, and 318.46 meters in length. The conversion from VLCC to FPSO involved steel fabrication, module installation and integration, the installation of cables, pipe and equipment.
It will be capable of processing 100,000 barrels of oil per day or 150,000 barrels of total fluids per day, 150 million cubic feet per day of gas, and having a storage capacity of approximately 1,600,000 barrels. The FPSO will also be able to inject 100,000 barrels of water per day. The FPSO will initially gather production from 5 subsea wells with the capability to handle 4 additional production wells in the future. MODEC was responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, mobilization operations of the FPSO, including topsides processing equipment, hull and marine system. SOFEC designed and provided the deepwater spread mooring system.
The contract is for a 15 year lease with 5 one-year options. The FPSO arrived at its operating area at the Santos Basin in Brazil yesterday and is designed to remain on the field for up to 20 years.
This is an important happening as it starts production of one more pre-salt field, which will help increase Brazil´s overall O&G production. For a long time the Tupi field was believed to be the biggest pre-salt discovery in Brazil, with a reservoir containing between 5 and 8 billion barrels. Many industry specialists believed that there would not be any subsequent discoveries larger than Tupi. We obviously now know there is with the recent discovery of the Libra field, believed to contain at least 8 billion barrels, making it potentially larger than Tupi. It is important to note that there is still a lot of deepwater drilling to be done in the areas around Tupi, Guara, Franco and Libra, so even larger reservoirs are a true possibility.
Even more encouraging is the recent news from ANP (Brazil´s National Petroleum Agency), that it is awaiting final results from CGGVeritas´s survey campaign in the South Santos Basin, which will be delivered by year´s end. Preliminary analyses indicated a high probability for other major finds in this area also, which may have a considerable influence in Brazil´s overall reserves figure.
Claudio Paschoa
Paschoa, Claudio
Claudio Paschoa is Marine Technology Reporter's correspondent in Brazil.
Email: [email protected]
February 2024
