Petrobras has announced the start-up of platform P-61 in Papa Terra field, in the southern tip of Campos Basin, 110 km off the coast of Brazil and at a water depth (distance between water surface and sea floor) ranging from 400 to 1,400 meters.
Set up at a water depth of 1,200 meters, platform P-61 comprises the Papa Terra field production project, along with FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) P-63, which came into operation on November 11, 2013.
Currently there are five production and six injection wells interconnected to P-63, an additional five injection wells will be interconnected. Thirteen production wells will be interconnected to P-61, the well known as PPT-16, which is currently in operation, is the platform’s first well.
The production of P-61 is transferred via flexible lines to FPSO P-63, which is capable of processing 140 thousand barrels per day (bpd) and 1 million cubic meters (m³) of gas, besides being able to inject 340 thousand barrels of water, Petrobras said.
Shuttle tankers transport the oil from the field and the surplus gas, not consumed on the platforms, is injected into a nearby reservoir.
The topside of P-61 was built at the Keppel Felds shipyard in Singapore. The hull and mating operation (the joining of the hull and the topside) were completed at the Brasfels shipyard in the city of Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro.
According to Petrobras, the presence of reservoirs containing oil rated between 14 and 17 API, as well as the project’s great depths, have made the development of Papa-Terra field one of Petrobras’s most complex projects, requiring the incorporation of many different innovative solutions.
P-61 Tension Leg Wellhead Platform is connected to a Tender Assisted Drilling Platform and is equipped with a drilling and well completion rig. Petrobras says that this is the first time a platform of this type operates in Brazil. The wells of P-61 are of the dry completion type, that is, well control valves are located on the platform, instead of on the sea floor.
The production wells of P-63 are connected to the platform via subsea flexible pipes equipped with electric heating known as IPB (Integrated Production Bundle) and the field’s 18 production wells feature subsea centrifuge pumps.
Papa Terra field is operated by Petrobras (62.5%) in partnership with Chevron (37.5%).
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