Eni informed it has started production of the gas field Perla, located in the Gulf of Venezuela, 50 kilometers offshore.
The first production well has been opened and is currently in the clean-up phase, the company said in a statement.
The field is located in the Cardón IV Block operated by Cardón IV, a company jointly owned by Eni and Repsol.
Perla is the largest offshore gas field discovered to date in Latin America and the first gas field to be brought to production offshore Venezuela.
The field currently holds 17 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, which corresponds to 3.1 billion of barrels of oil equivalent, with additional potential. The best wells are estimated to produce over 150 million standard cubic feet per day each.
The development of Perla has been planned in three phases to optimize time to market and investment pace: Phase 1 has a production plateau of about 450 Mscfd increased from the 300 Mscfd initially planned, Phase 2 has a plateau of 800 Mscfd from 2017 and Phase 3 has a plateau of 1,200 Mscfd from 2020.
The development plan includes four light offshore platforms linked by a 30‘ pipeline to a Central Processing Facility located onshore at Punto Fijo (Paraguaná Peninsula) and 21 producer wells. In the CPF, two treatment trains have been installed with the capability of handling 150 Mscfd and 300 Mscfd each.
Cardón IV signed a Gas Sales Agreement with PDVSA for all three phases, until 2036. The gas will be mainly used by PDVSA for the domestic market.
Image: Repsol