Shell starts oil production from BC-10 project’s second phase offshore Brazil

Royal Dutch Shell PLC and its partners have reported start of production from the second development phase of the Parque das Conchas (BC-10) project 62 miles offshore southeastern Brazil. The BC-10 project consists of several subsea fields connected to the Espirito Santo floating production, storage, and offloading vessel.

The first phase of the project began production in 2009 when the Abalone and Ostra fields were connected along with the Argonauta B-West reservoir. The peak production of the first phase was more than 90,000 boe/d in 2010, and is currently producing 35,000 boe/d. Shell started developing Phase 2 in 2010 and connected a fourth reservoir to the Argonauta O-North vessel (OGJ Online, Oct. 15, 2010). At its peak, Phase 2 is expected to produce 35,000 boe/d.

In July, Shell and its partners announced the decision to move forward with the project’s third development phase, which will include the installation of subsea-infrastructure at the Massa and Argonauta O-South reservoirs (OGJ Online, July 22, 2013). Phase 3 of the BC-10 project is expected to reach a peak production of 28,000 boe/d. The entirety of the BC-10 project has produced more than 70 million boe since it began production in 2009.

Shell has two FPSOs offshore Brazil: the Espirito Santo at Parque das Conchas and the Fluminense at the Bijupira-Salema fields. Operator Shell holds 50% of the BC-10 project. Other partners are Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA 35% and India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp. 15%.