Rio Oil and Gas: Pre-salt production to increase by 2020

Petrobras expects pre-salt production to account for 50% of its total production by 2020, Carlos Tadeu Fraga, Petrobras’ general manager for pre-salt E&P told attendees at Rio Oil and Gas 2014 on Wednesday.

Fraga (pictured) stepped in for Petrobras’ scheduled luncheon speaker José Formigli Filho, Petrobras’ director of E&P.

Presently, pre-salt production represents about 20% of Petrobras’ total production. In order to attain this goal, Petrobras plans to drill another 200 wells by 2019 and place a series of new FPSOs in operation, Fraga said. Petrobras is also banking on its experience in FPSO construction along with local shipyards to build larger capacity FPSOs in the near future.

Fraga also revealed that the accumulated pre-salt production, which started in 2008, has passed 400MMboe mark last August, when Petrobras produced 580,000 boe/d in the pre-salt. Fraga pointed out that the results were a direct result of the production increase in the Santos Basin.

“The Santos Basin pre-salt, is a protagonist in relation to total production, due to new systems beginning operations,” he said. His evaluation of the increase in production at the Campos Basin pre-salt was made easier “due to existing infrastructure in the areas, where the work consisted in drilling, completing and interlinking wells.”

Frago said since the beginning of pre-salt operations, more than 100 wells have been spudded and 25 were completed. He said the learning curve obtained during the last four years allowed a reduction of 60% in pre-salt drilling times and a reduction of 65% in time spent in pre-salt well completion.

The third day of the Rio O&G 2014 also saw Brazil’s Vice President Michel Temer visit the conference, along with IBP (Brazilian Petroleum Institute) President João Carlos de Luca and ANP Director Magda Chambriard.

Other technologies on display on Wednesday was Caterpillar Oil & Gas’ latest Cat offshore power generation module. The module is a turn-key EPC scope, scalable, single lift, modular power plant product that includes full integration into the FPSO or platform structural design. It leverages Caterpillar’s engine technology with the vessel design expertise from Finland’s Deltamarin.

Total’s 200sq m booth showcased the French major’s business growth in Brazil. One of the booth’s main attractions was the CLOV, a hologram of Total’s newest flagship project in deepwater Angola, which is a high performance supercomputer that supports Total’s E&P operations. Total’s Formula 1 simulator, which reproduces a life size F1 car was also another highlight.  

Image: IBP

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