Sevan Driller – New One of a Kind Deepwater Driller in Brazil

New Wave Media

The Sevan Driller is a one of a kind deepwater and harsh environment driller which has arrived in Brazil and is preparing to start operations for Petrobras in the Campos Basin.

Sevan Marine has developed a cylinder shaped floater, suitable for all offshore environments, using their own proprietary technology. Presently, Sevan Marine has four FPSO contracts, including the Goliat Sevan 1000 FPSO, and three drilling contracts with clients. One of their cylindrical FPSOs, the Sevan Piranema is already in operations in Brazil for Petrobras on an 11 year fixed contract with 6 x 1 year options  + 5 x 1 year mutually agreed .

The FPSO Sevan Piranema has performed with consistently high production uptime levels since its start up in October 2007. At end of 2009, the unit had performed at an average of 99.9% uptime over the 12 month period and with no lost time incidents over the same period.

The unit, which is the first cylindrical FPSO ever to commence operations, is operating for Petrobras S.A. on the Piranema field, located in the deep waters of the Brazilian state of Sergipe in the Northeast of the country. Installed at a 1,100 m water depth, the FPSO Sevan Piranema is currently interconnected to six wells; three producing wells, and three gas injection wells. Current daily production levels are approximately 8,000 bbls of produced oil and 800,000 m3 of gas re-injection. The connection of another four wells will be carried out in 2010/11 and subsequent daily production levels are expected to increase substantially.

At the end of 2009, the FPSO Sevan Piranema's accumulated production reached 6.0 million barrels of petroleum. 30 off¬loading operations to export tanker had been carried out, all of them with a high level of efficiency.

The Sevan Driller, which is presently moored off Niteroi, right outside of Guanabara Bay, awaiting systems tests by Petrobras in order to sail to the Campos Basin and start operations,  is designed to include the most advanced drilling capabilities in the industry and is based on Sevan's own patented technology. The unit has a capacity of drilling  wells up to 40,000 feet in water depths of up to 12,500 feet, it also has a variable deck load of more than 20,000 metric tons and high storage capacity of bulk materials. Sevan Driller is equipped with an internal storage capacity of up to 150,000 barrels of oil. It will also have state of art ROVs on station, operated by Petrobras. It also uses the latest Kongsberg Dynamic Positioning (DP) system.

In November 2009, Sevan Driller was delivered from the Cosco Qidong Shipyard in China less than 30 months from start of construction. The unit successfully sailed from China to Brazil and will operate for Petrobras in the pre salt area off the Brazilian coastline. The Sevan Driller is on a 6 year fixed contract to Petrobras.
Another unit, which will be Sevan´s second drilling unit is now under construction and will also be drilling in the Brazilian pre-salt on a 6 year fixed contract for Petrobras upon its delivery, which should be between 2011-12.

Some of the advantages of the Sevan Driller include:

 - Minimized downtime waiting on weather

 - Designed for drilling in up to Hs=8m (Beaufort 10)

 - Safe and efficient operations in extreme weather conditions

 - Favorable heave and roll motions

 - High station keeping capability

 - DP class 3

 - Ultra deepwater - storage capacity for 12,500 ft of risers

 - Optional mooring with thruster assist

Claudio Paschoa
Photo C. Paschoa