Petrobras plans to develop Tupi field
Peter Howard Wertheim
Contributing Editor
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Petrobras plans to install two production units every two years to produce pre-salt reserves in the Santos basin, beginning in 2010.
Petrobras has chosen Tupi to be the first of its pre-salt resources to be developed, beginning with long-term tests from March 2009, when it will turn out 30,000 b/d of oil.
There will be 11 platforms producing in Tupi in the future and there is an estimated future production of 1 MMb/d of oil from the pre-salt strata in Tupi field, according to assistant E&P director, Alvaro Costa. The field also will provide around 220 cu m (7,769 cu ft) of gas for each cubic meter (6.3 bbl) of oil extracted, Costa says.
Tupi is the only field in the pre-salt zone with known reserves of between 5 and 8 Bboe, compared with Brazil's proven reserves of 14.5 Bbbl. The sub-salt reserves extend over an 800-km (500-mi) stretch and may contain enough oil to propel Brazil to the status of a major world oil producer.
The Campos basin, which neighbors Santos basin, supplies around 80% of national oil output of around 1.8 MMb/d.
Costa says technological advances have reduced the time and money the company spends exploring pre-salt resources. Well probing time, which used to take six months, now takes only two months, reducing exploratory well costs to one third of the original amount.
Hire costs for probing equipment can reach $600,000 per day, Costa said.
07/28/2008
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