Libra Pre-salt Development

As the time for the first pre-salt bidding round approaches, solid data begins to appear related to production forecasts and assets needed for the field’s development. Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) has confirmed that the first pre-salt bidding round will take place in October 2013 in Rio de Janeiro and the rules concerning it have already drawn criticism from potential operators. ANP maintains that these rules will not be changed and has come forth with information concerning the field’s development.

According to thr ANP, Libra is expected to produce first oil in 2018, that is, 5 years after the winning consortium signs the E&P contract for Libra. This contract will be signed by November 2013. Magda Chambriard, GM of the ANP has announced that the production forecast for when Libra is in full operation will reach 1 million barrels/day, which adds up to about half the current total Brazilian oil production. 12 to 18 platforms or most likely FPSOs producing around 150 thousand barrels/day are forecast to be necessary for Libra to reach its full production potential. However this figure may change if larger FPSOs are used and/or if a more efficient production method is used. Somewhere around 60 to 90 OSVs of various types will also be necessary, along with a large amount of  subsea E&P equipment, which will undoubtedly give another major boost to local industry while at the same time increase the presence of foreign manufacturers. Investments to the tune of $200 billion are forecast to be necessary for Libras’s development.

The ANP drilled a single well at Libra, finding an oil column 326.4 meters thick containing light oil rated at 27º API, which is considered to be extremely good quality light oil, which doesn’t require as much refining as heavy oil. The final data estimates show that Libra holds between 26 billion and 42 billion barrels boe in place. To come up with this value, the ANP used a recovery rate of about 30%, which means that the recoverable volume would be between 8 and 12 billion barrels boe. Previous estimates made before the exploration well was drilled forecast volumes of 16 billion to 52 billion barrels boe.