Deepwater Field Development - Combination of Mature and Non-conventional Technologies

摘要

In the scenario of deepwater, specially in the case ofrnmarginal oilfields, the industry faces the challenge ofrnmaking the exploitation developments technically viable andrncost effective, to guarantee the success of the project even inrna scenario with considerably variable oil price. To makernpossible the profitable development of such oilfields andrnincrease the project net present value, it is required to keeprnthe capital and operational expenditures (CAPEX andrnOPEX) within reasonable limits, at the same time thatrnleading edge technology is necessary. At a first glance itrnseems contradictory and a question naturally arises: is lowrncost deepwater development a dream or a possibility? Norndoubt it is a big challenge.rnFor CAPEX reduction, the first suggestion for marginalrnfields is the elimination of exclusive/dedicated productionrnplatform and the adoption of subsea systems tied-in tornexisting infrastructure. In Campos Basin, where severalrnfields lay in the same neighborhood, Petrobras hadrnexperienced the possibility of starting a production from onernoil well in Albacora Leste field, exporting to a platformrnlocated in the neighbor Albacora field. The RJS-477A well,rnlocated in 1109 meters of water depth, had the productionrnboosted by electrical submersible pump (ESP) and directedrnto P-25 platform located 6.5 km away. Although not being arnlong distance tie-in, the technology developed allows for thernconsideration of such boosting technology in the viabilityrnstudies being conducted for other fields.rnBesides the boosting technology using ESP, that could bernnowadays called a mature technology, other nonconventionalrnones are being studied inside Petrobras,rnfocused on the deepwater scenarios, with the objective ofrnverifying their economical impact and attractiveness. Therncombination of mature and non-conventional technologies isrnbelieved to be the best approach to make marginal fieldrndevelopment profitable.rnThis paper presents some Petrobras realization in marginalrnfield and deepwater field developments and discusses howrnmature and new technologies may be combined aiming thernexploitation of marginal fields.