Bauna and Piracaba Oil and Gas Fields, formerly known as Tiro and Sidon Oil and Gas Fields, are located in block BMS-40 in the southern part of Santos Basin about 200km off the coast of Sao Paulo. The fields began production in February 2013.
The Bauna field, owned solely by Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), is estimated to hold reserves of 113 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) while the Piracaba field is estimated to hold reserves of 83 million boe.
Operations at the two fields are being carried out through the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Cidade de Itajai, which is operated by the Odebrecht and Teekay (OOG-TK) consortium.
The FPSO is currently connected to well 9-SPS-88, which has a production capacity of up to 12,000 barrels per day. Production from the two fields is expected to intensify with the connection of ten additional wells to the FPSO by August 2013. The ten wells will comprise five production wells, four water injection wells, and one gas injection well.
Geology of Bauna and Piracaba oil fields
The oil fields contain light oil in sandstone reservoirs located above the salt layer at depths of about 2,160m.
Development of the Bauna and Piracaba oil fields
The development plans (DP) and the declaration of commerciality of light oil in the two fields were submitted to the Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) of Brazil in February 2012. The owner had earlier carried out the Exploratory Assessment Program involving an extended well test (EWT) at the two fields prior to the declaration of the commercial viability from the fields.
Details of the FPSO conversion for the development of Bauna and Piracaba fields
The contract for the delivery of the FPSO for the development of Bauna and Piracaba fields was awarded to Teekay in October 2010. The contract was worth $370m.
It called for the detailed engineering, installation and integration of 16 topside modules, installation of the mooring lines and power generation systems, and upgrade of the accommodation facilities. The project also involved the installation of the piping and electrical cabling systems.
Related project
Sapinhoa Oil Field, Santos Basin, Brazil
The Sapinhoa (formerly known as Guara) oil field is located in block BM-S-9 of the Santos basin, about 310km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
FPSO Cidade de Itajai was converted from the Aframax tanker MT Arc II. The conversion of the Aframax tanker was carried out at Sembcorp Marine’s Jurong Shipyard in Singapore and was delivered to the operators in November 2012.
The scope of the $351m contract includes the conversion of the tanker and operation of the facility for nine years, which is extendable by an additional six years. The contract for the FPSO was signed after the tanker was partly converted at the Jurong shipyard.
The FPSO is designed for 15 years of deployment without dry docking. It has a capacity to process up to 80,000 barrels of light oil and two million cubic metres of gas per day. It is placed at a water depth of 275m, about 210km off the Sao Paulo coast. The produced oil from the facility is shipped using relief tankers.
The topside solutions for the FPSO were supplied by Siemens. The equipment included two SGT-400 power generation units, a sulfate removal unit (SRU), and an electrical house (E-house).
Cidade de Itajai FPSO dimensions and features
The Cidade de Itajai FPSO measures 244.5m in length and has a moulded breadth of 42.65m. It has a deadweight tonnage capacity of 105,384t with capacity of carrying 206.7m³ of potable water on its port tank as well as starboard tank, and 668.2m³ of potable water on its aft peak tank.
The FPSO can accommodate 70 people and is equipped with two lifeboats. It also features a helideck for the Sikorsky S92.
The FPSO also has two electric-hydraulic pedestal cranes with a lifting capacity of 25t at an outreach of 35m and 15t at an outreach of 47m.