Waimea oil field is located in the BM-C-41 block in the Campos Basin, 80km offshore of from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. OGX, an EBX Group company, owns a 100% stake in and operates the field.
The first oil production at the Waimea accumulation took place in January 2012. In March 2012, OGX delivered 600,000 barrels of oil to Shell Western Supply and Trading.
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The current output from a single production well is 12,500 barrels of oil a day. It is expected to increase up to about 40,000 to 50,000bod by the end of 2012.
Discovery of the South American oil field
Waimea oil field was discovered in December 2009 through a wildcat well OGX-3-1-RJS. The well, which was drilled for 32 days, discovered a 130m oil column with a net pay of 80m.
In the third quarter of 2010, the drilling of the OGX-21D well confirmed the reservoir extent of the field. The drilling activity was carried out by Sea Explorer.
In January 2012, OGX received licence from the Brazilian Institute for Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) to operate the FPSO OSX-1.
Production wells at the Waimea field in block BM-C-41
The first production well at the Waimea field, OGX-26, is a one kilometre-long horizontal well. A horizontal well was preferred to a vertical one for maximum oil recovery from the field. A drill stem test at the well indicated that the field has a production potential of 40,000bod of 20° API.
An extended well test was started in January 2012 to get additional information on the reservoir. The results from the test will help OGX to take steps to increase the production to 20,000bod.
Development phases at the field will begin after the completion of the extended well test. Under the phase, two more horizontal wells will be drilled in 2012 in addition to two water injection wells. All the wells will be connected to the FPSO OSX-1.
Floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel OSX-1
The OSX-1 (previously Nexus-1) is the first floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the fleet of OSX, an EBX group company. The FPSO has been leased for 20 years. It was built at Samsung shipyard in South Korea and customised in the Keppel shipyard in Singapore.
The FPSO was delivered in October 2011 and it started production in January 2012. It was funded by a group of banks led by the Norway-based DVD Bank, to the sum of $420m.
The OSX-1 is 271.75m long and its topside weighs 3,200t. It has a capacity to store up to 900,000 barrels of oil. Its production capacity is 60,000boe a day.
The mooring system of OSX1 contains a detachable buoy (turret) which was built in Indonesia. The buoy is 17m high, 14m in diameter and weighs 700t. The mooring system was connected in January 2012.
Supply contract between OGX and Shell
In October 2011, OGX signed an agreement with Shell Western Supply and Trading to ship 1.2 million barrels of oil in two batches of 600,000 barrels each. The first batch of oil was delivered in March 2012.
Contractors helping develop Brazil’s offshore oil field
Keppel Shipyard was awarded a contract for modification and upgrade of the FPSO. Its scope of work included fabrication, modification and upgrade of the topside process modules.
In August 2010, BW Offshore won a contract worth $150m to provide project management, engineering and technical services for FPSO project. The scope of the contract included providing engineering services, detailing the equipment required for customisation and support of the procurement process, plus delivery of a submerged turret production system.
In September 2011, GE Oil & Gas was awarded a $230m contract to supply equipment for offshore fixed production platform at the field. Delivery is expected to be completed by 2015.
