Royal Dutch Shell plc reported Monday it plans to boost deepwater production offshore Brazil with the Parque das Conchas and the Bijupira/Salema fields.
Shell and its partners in the Parque das Conchas ultra-deepwater project in BC-10, Petroleo Brasiliero (Petrobras) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), will move forward with the project’s third phase, which will include installation of subsea infrastructure at the Maasa and Argonauta O-South fields. The two fields will be tied back to the Espirito Santo floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel which is at the center of the Parque das Conchas development. The FPSO is moored in 5,840 feet of water.
Production from the project’s third phase is expected to peak at 28,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). The BC-10 project has produced over 70 million barrels of oil equivalent since production began in 2009.
The BC-10 project’s second phase, which will see the tie in the Argonauta O-North field to the Espirito Santo FPSO, is expected to come online late this year with peak production of 35,000 boepd.
Shell holds a 50-percent interest in Parque das Conchas. Petrobras and ONGC hold 35 percent and 15 percent interest in the field.
The Parque das Conchas project includes five fields, Ostra, Abalone, Argonauta B-West, Argonauta O-North and Nautilus in the Campos Basin off Espirito Santo, Brazil in water depths ranging from 4,921 feet to 6,562 feet. The five fields contain estimated recoverable reserves of 400 million barrels of heavy crude oil.
Shell and Petrobras are also drilling four new production wells at the Bijupira/Salema fields, an effort expected to boost production to a 35,000 boepd peak in 2014. The fields have produced nearly 100 million barrels of oil equivalent since production began in 2003. Shell and Petrobras own respective interests in the fields of 80 percent and 20 percent.
