Petrobras signs LOI to charter FPSO for Libra field

A consortium led by Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has signed a letter of intent with Odebrecht Oil & Gas and Teekay to charter a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel for the extended well test campaign at the Libra area of the Santos basin presalt.

Delivery of the FPSO and startup of the first extended well test are scheduled for fourth-quarter 2016. The consortium plans to conduct tests in several areas of the block to evaluate the production performance and acquire information about the Libra area. Future definitive production systems will be designed based on the data collected.

Each test involves two wells connected to the FPSO, of which one will be an oil producer and one will be a gas injector. The vessel will have a processing capacity of 50,000 b/d of oil and a gas injection capacity of 4 million cu m/day.

The majority of the produced gas volume will be reinjected into the reservoir for pressure maintenance and a small part will be consumed during the operations. The FPSO will be operated by a company to be formed by Odebrecht and Teekay.

The consortium has already spudded two exploration wells on the block (OGJ Online, Aug. 21, 2014).

Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) estimates recoverable volume of oil and gas in the 1,500-sq-km field at 8-12 billion of boe.

The Libra consortium is comprised of operator with 40% interest, Royal Dutch Shell PLC 20%, Total SA 20%, China National Petroleum Corp. 10%, and China National Offshore Oil Corp. 10%, with the newly created, Brazilian state-owned Pre-Sal Petroleo SA managing the contract (OGJ Online, Oct. 21, 2013).