PRIO contracts McDermott for Wahoo oil field development work offshore Brazil

PRIO (formerly PetroRio) has let a transportation and installation contract to McDermott for Wahoo oil field development, offshore Brazil.

McDermott will perform the transportation and installation of about 19 miles (30 km) of coated 10-in. rigid pipelines and associated subsea structures. Once installed, the pipelines will connect Wahoo field to the Frade floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit. The contract also includes an extension option for a second pipeline.

Wahoo field lies about 19 miles (30 km) north of the producing Frade field in Brazil's Campos basin in 1,400 m of water.

PRIO plans to drill four producer wells and two water-injection wells to develop the field, which is estimated to hold potential to produce more than 125 million bbl of oil in the presalt layer.

McDermott's team in Rio de Janeiro will oversee project management and engineering. Installation activities will be performed by one of McDermott's rigid pipelay vessels.

PRIO is operator at Wahoo with 64.3% interest.