(Bloomberg) – Equinor ASA says it may quickly begin producing at a big deepwater oil discipline off the coast of Brazil after struggling delays at a mission that’s essential for its development technique.
The $8 billion Bacalhau mission, the most important new growth in its marketing strategy, was initially scheduled to start out in 2024. Equinor will begin with one nicely through the commissioning course of — when technicians and engineers take a look at and activate the gear — and extra wells are scheduled to return on line within the months forward, the corporate stated Friday in a response to emailed questions from Bloomberg Information.
The delays to the preliminary startup on the Bacalhau oil discipline, located off the coast of São Paulo, underscore the technological challenges oil producers face when creating tasks greater than 1,000 ft underwater. It’s additionally a velocity bump for Equinor’s development technique.
Bacalhau is predicted to provide as a lot as 220,000 bpd. It was one of many first belongings Brazil’s state oil firm, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, bought when it started divesting a few of its oil fields a decade in the past, underscoring how Bacalhau is much more advanced than different tasks in Brazil’s so-called pre-salt area.
“Extremely-deep reservoirs, excessive strain, and full fuel reinjection have stretched prices and mission timelines,” stated Andre Fagundes, a vp at power consultancy Welligence who covers Brazil. “As first oil approaches, Bacalhau stays a defining take a look at of Equinor’s potential to ship advanced pre-salt tasks at scale.”
Equinor started a program to drill a complete of 19 wells at Bacalhau in 2022. Chief Monetary Officer Torgrim Reitan stated in an earnings name on July 23 that the mission was “going in line with plan” and that Equinor would have “a handful of wells producing by year-end.”
The elevated ranges of reservoir strain on the discipline make it technically advanced. Equinor stated it requires high-pressure compressors to have the ability to reinject the fuel, and that it’ll flare from the primary nicely till it has examined gear wanted to inject the gasoline again into the reservoir.
Bacalhau is the primary mission within the pre-salt area that’s been developed by a international oil firm. The floating manufacturing and storage vessel, referred to as an FPSO, arrived at Bacalhau in late February.
It has taken Equinor longer to achieve first oil on the FPSO in contrast with related vessels operated by state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA. Petrobras, because the Rio de Janeiro-based producer is understood, reached first oil on the Alexandre de Gusmão FPSO in Could, solely three months after it had arrived on the discipline.
