Oil and gas company Karoon has shut production from its Baúna field offshore Brazil, including from the Patola field, due to "a loss of containment incident" associated with the high-pressure flare on the Cidade de Itajaí FPSO.
Karoon said that production was shut-in on March 28, 2023, in a "safe and controlled manner."
The FPSO operator, Altera&Ocyan (A&O) mobilized a team of specialists to the FPSO to identify the source of the leak and undertake repairs. "These repairs were completed on March 30, 2023. However, due to the higher than expected flow rates from the Patola wells, and the associated pressure that places on the FPSO processing system, Karoon and A&O have decided to extend the shutdown to undertake a full inspection and testing of associated systems, and to bring forward some of the planned July maintenance program," Karoon said.
"It is expected that the inspection and accelerated maintenance work will be completed by mid-April 2023, allowing production to restart. If there is a material change to this date, Karoon will keep the market informed.
"Due to higher than anticipated production rates seen from both the intervention program and from Patola, at this stage the Company’s production guidance for the FY2023 full year remains unchanged, despite the current shutdown," Karoon added.
The news comes after Karoon, based in Australia, recently brought on stream the second production well - PAT-1 well - at its Patola field.
Patola was at the time producing more than 20,000 bopd from the two new development wells, taking total production from BM-S-40, post connection of the two wells, to over 40,000 bopd.