Offshore staff
SAN RAMON, California – Cementing operations are under way as part of the well plugging plan near the Frade field offshore Brazil, reports operator Chevron and its drilling contractor Transocean.
Chevron also says there never was any oil flow from the wellhead, and that monitoring indicates oil from a nearby seep line on the seabed has reduced to infrequent droplets.
Chevron continues to coordinate and to deploy resources to monitor and to manage any remaining sheen. The company has been scheduling a fleet of up to 18 vessels on a rotational basis, weather permitting, to control and monitor the sheen. It has maintained full production activity throughout the seep incident and production is running at 79,000 b/d of oil.
Chevron says it continues to inform and work with Brazilian government agencies and industry partners on the seep.
The appraisal well was drilled in the vicinity of the Chevron-operated Frade project 370 km (230 mi) offshore northeast of Rio de Janeiro in water depths of approximately 1,200 m (3,800 ft).
11/17/2011
