Buzios field development has the potential to implement several production systems due to large reservoir volumes. Considering the oil specification, the drive to use standard solutions already in place in Pre-salt area, associated with the high production indexes of the wells, Petrobras decided to tie back all production wells in satellite configuration. These facts, together with geological hazards in the area, lead to a potentially congested seabed scenario. Hence, FPU positioning has been challenging and demanding innovative engineering solutions to optimize FPU mooring as to overcome these challenges and enable FPU positioning close to wells. This optimization gave birth to new issues, such as risk of clashing between mooring lines and lazy-wave flexible risers. Integrated riser and mooring lines dynamic analysis, together with subsea layout assessment were performed to ensure technical and economic feasibility. Furthermore, due to the Buzios reservoir, well design requirements and subsea layout specificities, all FPU were located on the edge of the reservoir and flexible risers were tied back mainly from only one board of each FPU. Hence, enhancing clearance between bow and stern mooring clusters and the optimization of the risers’ configuration were of paramount importance for enabling most of the risers’ connections on the desirable board. FPU mooring optimization led to up to 30% of mooring lines’ radius reduction (horizontal projection), and an average of up to 500m per flowline reduction, saving CAPEX, OPEX and increasing the return on investment.
Buzios is a super-giant ultra-deep-water pre-salt oil and gas field located in the Santos Basin off Brazil's Southeastern coast. There are four production systems already installed in the field. Designed to use flexible pipes to tie back the production and injection wells to the FPSOs (Floating Production Storage and Offloading), these systems have taken advantage from several lessons learned in the previous projects installed by Petrobras in Santos Basin pre-salt areas since 2010. This knowledge, combined with advances in flexible pipe technology, use of long-term contracts and early engagement with suppliers, made it possible to optimize the field development, minimizing the risks and reducing the capital expenditure (CAPEX) initially planned. This paper presents the first four Buzios subsea system developments, highlighting some of the technological achievements applied in the field, as the first wide application of 8" Internal Diameter (ID) flexible production pipes for ultra-deep water, leading to faster ramp-ups and higher production flowrates. It describes how the supply chain strategy provided flexibility to cover the remaining project uncertainties, and reports the optimizations carried out in flexible riser systems and subsea layouts. The flexible risers, usually installed in lazy wave configurations at such water depths, were optimized reducing the total buoyancy necessary. For water injection and service lines, the buoyancy modules were completely removed, and thus the lines were installed in a free-hanging configuration. Riser configuration optimizations promoted a drop of around 25% on total riser CAPEX and allowed the riser anchor position to be placed closer to the floating production unit, promoting opportunities for reducing the subsea tieback lengths. Standardization of pipe specifications and the riser configurations allowed the projects to exchange the lines, increasing flexibility and avoiding riser interference in a scenario with multiple suppliers. Furthermore, Buzios was the first ultra-deep-water project to install a flexible line, riser, and flowline, with fully Controlled Annulus Solution (CAS). This system, developed by TechnipFMC, allows pipe integrity management from the topside, which reduces subsea inspections. As an outcome of the technological improvements and the optimizations applied to the Buzios subsea system, a vast reduction in subsea CAPEX it was achieved, with a swift production ramp-up.
The purpose of this paper is to present a general overview of the Buzios field development plan, projects’ features, and main achievements so far. The development plan adopted a strategy to pursue the balance between acceleration and cash flow optimization, to maximize the return on the huge investment on the block acquisition, and the risk management related to developing several Greenfield Projects simultaneously. To reduce reservoir uncertainties, a comprehensive data acquisition plan was crafted and implemented considering: (a) seismic acquisition, (b) drilling, logging and testing several exploratory and appraisal wells, (c) massive rock and fluid data sampling along the reservoirs, (d) execution of one Extended Well Test and three Early Production Systems. Additionally, the basic design of wells, subsea systems and Floating Production Storage and Offloading ("FPSO") provided flexibility to cover remaining uncertainties yet present in the Transfer of Rights ("ToR") scope, which allows up to 3,150 billion barrels of oil equivalent ("boe") to be produced. This led to technological challenges that needed to be addressed during project planning. We believe that the innovative solutions applied enhanced currently available technologies and delivered an important legacy to the offshore oil and gas industry. Finally, the results obtained so far, with the ramp-up of Buzios projects 1, 2, 3, and 4 provide evidence of the successful adopted strategy and reinforce the decision of deployment of a fifth FPSO under the scope of the ToR contract. The strong results of the asset led to the acquisition of 90% of the Transfer of Rights Surplus ("ToR+"), together with CNOOC Petroleum Brasil Ltda. (5%) and CNODC Brasil Petróleo e Gás Ltda. (5%), which now paves the way for a second wave of development, including the deployment of up to seven additional FPSOs.
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