Petrobras Starts Commercial Production of Sapinhoá Field in the Santos Basin Pre-Salt

Petrobras announces that as the platform Cidade de São Paulo comes into operation on January 5th it has started commercial production of Sapinhoá field in block BM-S-9 in the Santos Basin pre-salt.  This field has started production ahead of schedule, since the startup date in Petrobras 2012-2016 Business Plan was set for January 13, 2013.

The Cidade de São Paulo is a FPSO platform (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading). It is anchored in 2,140 meters of water, 310 km off the coast, and is capable of processing 120,000 barrels of oil and 5 million m3 of gas per day. Well 1-SPS-55, the first one to be interconnected to the platform, can produce over 25,000 barrels of oil per day. Production though will be restricted to 15,000 barrels of oil per day, until the commissioning of natural gas processing and reinjection systems is concluded which is expected to last 90 days,. The produced oil, which is of intermediate density (30º API) and high quality, will be transported through tankers.

The gas not used for reinjection will be transported through the Sapinhoá-Lula-Mexilhão Gas Pipeline to the Monteiro Lobato Gas Treatment Unit (UTGCA), located in Caraguatatuba, on the São Paulo state coast. Another 10 wells (five production and five injection) will be interconnected to the platform in the coming months. Peak production of 120,000 barrels of oil per day is expected for the first half of 2014.

The Sapinhoá field is one of the biggest oil fields in Brazil with a total recoverable volume estimated at 2.1bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and goes into commercial production four and a half years after it was discovered in July/2008.

The Sapinhoá Field Development Plan also provides for a second platform: FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela, whose hull is being converted, and will have capacity for 150,000 barrels of oil per day and 6 million m3/day of gas. It is expected to go on stream in the second half of 2014.

Block BM-S-9 is operated by Petrobras (45%) in partnership with BG E&P Brasil Ltda (30%) and Repsol Sinopec Brasil S.A. (25%).