Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - brazil

Devon Energy has informed ANP (Brazil´s National Petroleum Agency), that it has discovered indications of hydrocarbons in block CM-471 at the Campos Basin. This block is operated by Devon in a 50%/50% partnership with Brazil´s national operator Petrobras.Block CM-471 was acquired by Devon and Petrobras back in 2005, during ANP´S 7 round of bidding along with block C-M-473, both making part of block BM-C-34. Earlier this year Devon had disclosed the existence of potential O&G reservoirs in the adjacent block BM-C-32. Devon plans to extend the drilling in both blocks down to the pre-salt depths. Well 6DEV18PRJS in block CM-471 is located at a depth of 2,484 meters, being one of the deepest of the deepwater wells in Brazil.

Petrobras has announced it will start producing today the first oil from the pre-salt layer of the Baleia Franca Field, which is located about 85 km from the city of Anchieta (state of Espírito Santo), in the Parque das Baleias area.The Baleia Franca Field´s pre-salt accumulations were discovered in December 2008. The Production will start through the connection of well 6-BFR-1-ESS to the FPSO Capixaba, chartered to Petrobras by SBM and previously operated in the Golfinho Field. Aiming to anticipate the production at the Cachalote and Baleia Franca fields, the platform was moved to Parque das Baleias, after some changes in its process plant. The Baleia Franca pre-salt well will start producing approximately 13,000 bpd of light oil, estimated at 29º API.

Petrobras and PGS (Petroleum Geo-Services) announced on June 14th, 2010 in Rio de Janeiro that they have signed an agreement for PGS to install a permanent seismic monitoring system in the Jubarte field in the North Campos Basin, Espirito Santo province, offshore Brazil.PGS will install its OptoSeis fiber-optic system, as well as perform seismic acquisition and data processing for the project. This project is a significant step forward in the use of geophysics for reservoir surveillance, in particular 4D-4C seismic to map the flow of fluids in Brazil's deep water reservoirs. It is hoped that the system will improve the quality and timeliness of information that Petrobras' geophysics team provide their counterparts, reservoir and production engineers, that operate the fields.

Corus Tubes manufactured the thickest UOE 18” ever made especially for deepwater pipes at the Tupi field, in the Santos Basin.Corus Tubes has successfully manufactured 118km of 457mm x 31.75mm Grade X65 sour linepipe for the Petrobras Tupi project. This linepipe is designed to operate in Brazil’s Santos Basin at a depth of 2200m, and is thickest 18” UOE pipe manufactured to date. The design criteria allowed for fatigue and corrosion concerns as well as depth/collapse issues, and this led to the demanding and previously untried thickness to diameter ratio (t/D) of 0.0695. Some innovative steps were taken by Corus Tubes to control pipe shape, a critical element for subsequent laying of the pipe and collapse performance.

Since last year OGX Petróleo e Gás has been having excellent results in its exploratory campaign in the Campos Basin.OGX Petróleo e Gás, which is the Brazilian O&G company responsible for the largest private sector exploratory campaign in Brazil, recently announced that it had identified two oil-bearing intervals, one in the Aptian section of well 1-OGX-10-RJS and another in the Eocene section of well 1-OGX-13-RJS, which are located in the BM-C-42 and BM-C-41 blocks, respectively, in the shallow waters of the southern part of the Campos Basin, where they have been drilling the majority of their exploratory wells, with a very high percentage of success. OGX holds a 100% working interest in both blocks.

This new technical cooperation agreement between Petrobras and CGGVeritas highlights the importance of geophysical studies to the future of O&G exploration in Brazil.CGGVeritas  has announced that it has signed a Technology Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with the Brazilian O&G player, Petrobras, for the collaborative development and implementation of new technologies in Geophysics. The TCA sets the framework for collaborative research projects between Petrobras and CGGVeritas over a three-year time period in specific areas such as 4D seismic processing, imaging and reservoir geophysics. These research projects will be conducted at a recently opened CGGVeritas Technology Center in Rio de Janeiro.

The future of O&G recovery most likely lies in deepwater reservoirs. Subsea processing opens the door to more cost-efficient developments, especially for long step-outs and, marginal and deepwater fields. Large-scale seabed processing facilities will require a subsea power grid system that is able to operate for long step-outs with total reliability withstanding extreme pressure and temperatures. As technology leader on land-based power grids, Siemens has configured complex power transmissions to suite multiple subsea operations. Siemens also has broad experience with subsea power concept studies as well as experience producing deep-sea transformers and compressors and ten years experience on subsea control and communication.

C & C is known through the world as a technological leader in the survey field, they´ve been responsible for innovations such as C-Nav, Globally-corrected GPS and the C-Surveyor™ AUVs that have made groundbreaking advancements to the survey industry and subsequently have saved clients time and money worldwide.C & C Technologies do Brasil, a subsidiary of C & C Technologies, Inc. (C & C), the worldwide leader in deepwater autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operations, was recently awarded a $50 million contract by Petrobras. The 730 day contract will utilize C & C’s state-of-the-art C-Surveyor II AUV and M/V Northern Resolution. The contract can be renewed for an additional 730 days, making the contract potentially worth $100 million.

This cost isn´t only in equipment and manpower, it´s in lives, human and animal and destroyed ecosystems which will take at least a decade to recuperate. Safety must always come first. Even with the most reliable equipment and redundancy, there will always be the human factor. Nothing like a full on environmental tragedy to make for a vital attitude change: Safety first, and then all the profit scene. We all know now, that there is no infallible safety measure, well not man proof anyway. Pressure seems to be a wee bit of a problem too. Like the old saying goes: You only knows, when it blows! Well now we know, don´t we? This is the worst case scenario and it could not be correctly simulated.

The market for ROV services is set for continuous growth in Brazil as new deepwater fields are explored and developed. The recent contract Subsea 7´s i-Tech division signed with Petrobras (Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.) to provide ROV´s and intervention tooling services on up to 30 offshore drilling rigs is a good indication of what is to come. This contract alone will basically double the size of i-tech in Brazil, the contract value is estimated at a minimum of $250m with the potential for up to $405m, depending on the number of units that will go to each rig and the number of personnel deployed to maintain and operate the ROV´s. There are also many ongoing ROV support vessel…

The new Subsea 7 pipeline manufacturing facility and spoolbase will mainly serve the deepwater pre-salt developments at the Santos Basin. Subsea 7 has been active in Brazil for 15 years and has its main offices in workshop in Niteroi, in the state Rio de Janeiro and a spoolbase close to the city of Ubu in the state of Espirito Santo. Although construction of the new plant and spoolbase hasn´t started yet, Subsea 7 is only waiting for a state environmental license to begin building what is to be named the Paraná Subsea Construction Park. The company will invest $100 million and expects to create 600 direct jobs at the new site. Subsea 7 earned $2,4 billion worldwide and $848 million in Brazil in 2009.

The company will sell the areas in order to finance the development of the proven reserves it has discovered at the Campos Basin.OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações S.A., is looking to find partners to develop the fields it has discovered at the Campos Basin. The Executive Director of OGX, Paulo Mendonça confirmed during a recent conference with market analysts that the company will sell 20% of its areas at the Campos Basin. OGX has 7 blocks in Campos and has discovered oil in 5 of them. According to the company in these 5 blocks they have discovered reserves amounting to between 2,6 and 5,5 billion barrels. Paulo Mendonça guaranteed that…

Aker Solutions do Brasil Ltda. was recently awarded a large subsea contract by Petrobras to supply subsea trees for two of Brazil's pre-salt areas. With this latest contract and the previous contract for subsea trees at the Tupi field, Aker Solutions has secured its presence in all the pre-salt fields presently being developed by Petrobras.Aker Solutions do Brasil Ltda. has signed a frame agreement with Petrobras to supply 40 subsea trees for the Iara and Guará fields, located in the challenging pre-salt area of the Santos basin offshore Brazil. The contract is of approximately USD 300 million. The scope of works includes engineering and manufacturing of 40 vertical subsea trees for 2.500 meter water depths, subsea control systems and 17 complete tool sets.

With the continued growth and the high potential of the Brazilian O&G market, the demand for Kongsberg DP systems in ships, support vessels, FPSOs and MODUs is steadily increasing and Kongsberg Maritime do Brasil S.A is expanding and enhancing its presence and investments in the country. Kongsberg Maritime AS, has been engaged in various technological areas related to marine activities for more than 50 years and have been present in Brazil since 1980. They are continuously making efforts to develop their products, organization and employees to accommodate client needs. For their Brazilian operation this focus on client needs is being enhanced by increasing their physical presence in Brazil.

Sperry Drilling is a Halliburton brand which has a long history in the O&G drilling market and is an acknowledged global leader in groundbreaking technologies, such as MWD/LWD, multilateral drilling, and real-time applications.Sperry Drilling is leading the industry in drilling wells faster, safer and more accurately. They optimize drilling efficiency through increasing rate of penetration and lowering non-productive time. They place wells precisely to maximize reservoir drainage, real-time operations are core to deliver, from remotely operating rigs to consultant solutions. For more than 75 years, Sperry Drilling has been delivering high-quality drilling and geological services critical to safe and efficient drilling operations.

Among the many challenges facing E&P in the Brazilian deepwater pre-salt plays, is that of anchoring the flowlines, platforms, FPSOs and even buoys to the seabed which can be over 2000 meters deep. Petrobras has developed a simple and efficient method of doing this through the Torpedo Pile.In the case of the deepwater pre-salt plays in Brazil, specially at the Santos Basin, the distance from land to some of the proven plays like Tupi and Iara, which are around 300km from shore and pose complex logistics problems even on surface structures. Challenges, such as how to anchor a deepwater rig or FPSO to the seabed 2,200 meters down must be resolved. It is a long distance for anchors to travel, normally four or more anchors are used and these anchors need to be aligned.

The Society for Underwater Technology Technical Conference in Rio de Janeiro discusses the main challenges to be faced in Deepwater O&G exploration and examines the many possible solutions through technological innovations.The second day of the conference continued after the coffee break with FMC representatives speaking about their Field Development Toolbox to Enable Optimization and Best Value to Exploit Fields. This consists of an advanced 3D graphical design tool, consisting of a series of modules which enable a field development model to be defined and optimized. This presentation was followed by an interesting talk by researchers from the University of Strathclyde…

The Society for Underwater Technology Technical Conference in Rio de Janeiro discusses the main challenges to be faced in Deepwater O&G exploration and examines the many possible solutions through technological innovations. Summary of the first presentations during the second day of the conference.The second day of the SUT Technical Conference started off with keynote speaker David Brookes, Chief engineer Subsea and Floating Systems for BP. Mr. Brookes has been with BP since 1979 and has been in various subsea related positions within the company, been an acknowledged specialist is subsea system. His was an inspiring presentation about the perspectives on subsea development…

The Society for Underwater Technology Technical Conference 2010 in Rio de Janeiro discusses the main challenges to be faced in Deepwater O&G exploration and examines the many possible solutions through technological innovations.The challenges faced in exploring deepwater O&G reservoirs are truly incredible. Quoting the visionary Brazilian businessman and investor Eike Batista, himself a player in the O&G industry, “The pre-salt is like going to the moon”. Pre-salt E&P is certainly not the only challenge in deepwater development, but most specialists in the area of deepwater subsea systems development agree that it may be the biggest challenge…

MCS was founded in Galway, Ireland, in 1983. From small beginnings as an offshoot of the University of Galway, its directors have created a dynamic, ambitious and forward thinking company which has achieved a world class reputation and standing for its advanced engineering capability and software. Employing almost 200 people located in key oil and gas hubs around the world – Aberdeen, Houston, Rio, Perth, Paris and Kuala Lumpur they deliver complex systems solutions to demanding clients. From front-end feasibility studies to redevelopment studies and integrity reviews we cover life-of-field engineering for subsea developments and floaters. We can safely say we are the largest riser consultancy in the world.nts worldwide.