Cardón IV S.A. started production at the giant Perla gas field’s first well in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Venezuela.
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Map of Perla. From Repsol. |
Perla, Latin America’s largest offshore gas field, is located 50km off Venezuela in the Cardón IV Block. It is the first gas field to be brought into production offshore Venezuela.
Perla currently holds 17 Tcf of gas in place, which corresponds to 3.1 billion boe, with additional potential. The reservoir consists of Mio-Oligocene age carbonates with excellent characteristics, located at approximately 3000m below sea level, at a water depth of 60m. The best wells are estimated to produce over 150 MMscf/d each, according to partner Eni.
The three-phase development of Perla consists of: Phase 1 (early production) with an production plateau of about 450MMscf/d, a 50% increase from the initially planned 300 MMscf/d; Phase 2 has a plateau of 800 MMscf/d from 2017; and Phase 3 has a plateau of 1.2 Bscf/d from 2020.
Cardón IV signed a gas sales agreement with PDVSA for all three phases until 2036, in which PDVSA will mainly use the gas for domestic market.
Perla’s development plan includes four light offshore platforms linked by a 30ft pipeline to a central processing facility (CPF) located onshore at Punto Fijo (ParaguanáPeninsula) and 21 producer wells. Two treatment trains at the CPF have the capability of handling 150 MMscf/d and 300 MMscf/d each.
Eni’s current net production in Venezuela is approximately 12,000 boe/d and is expected to exceed 50,000 boe/d by year-end, mainly due to the increase in production from Perla.
"Eni has reached another milestone with the production start-up of the Perla offshore field, in line with the timing presented to the market in March during the strategy presentation. Perla was for Eni one of the most significant start-up projects of 2015, and the today result confirms the validity of our development model that allowed us to reach production in an industry-leading time to market," Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said.
Perla is operated by Cardón IV S.A., a company jointly owned by Eni (50%) and Repsol (50%).
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