Equinor Starts Production in Bacalhau offshore Brazil

Equinor ASA and its partners have launched production in Bacalhau in Brazil’s offshore Santos basin, which the Norwegian majority state-owned energy major said is the biggest field it has developed overseas.

Discovered 2012 in Santos’ pre-salt region by primarily state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the ultra-deepwater Bacalhau holds recoverable reserves exceeding one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), according to Equinor, which took over as operator 2016.

“Phase 1 development consists of 19 wells, producers and injectors, which will be brought online in sequence as we ramp up and sustain production”, Equinor said in a press release Thursday. “Equinor will be positioned to provide an update in 2026 during the ramp-up phase”.

Bacalhau has one of the biggest floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels deployed in Brazil, designed to produce up to 220,000 barrels of crude a day and store at least two million barrels, according to contractor MODEC Inc.

Philippe Mathieu, Equinor executive vice president for international exploration and production, said, “Brazil is a core area for us and Bacalhau will be a major contributor to Equinor’s goal of generating more than $5 billion of free cashflow by 2030 from our international portfolio”.

“Bacalhau will also deliver positive ripple effects and long-term benefits to Brazil’s economy, creating approximately 50,000 jobs over its 30-year lifetime”, Mathieu added.

Equinor president and chief executive Anders Opedal said, “Bacalhau represents a new generation of projects that bring together scale, cost-efficiency and lower carbon intensity”.

“With this development, we are strengthening the longevity of our oil and gas production and securing value creation for decades to come”, Opedal added.

The FPSO uses combined-cycle gas turbines to curb emissions. “With an expected CO2 intensity of around nine kilograms per boe, and advanced abatement across flaring, processing, power generation and storage, the field sets a new benchmark for cost-efficient and lower-emission deepwater production”, Equinor said.

The FPSO has been permanently moored in waters about 2,050 meters deep (6,725.72 feet) using a spread mooring system developed by MODEC’s SOFEC Inc, MODEC said separately.

“This vessel represents MODEC’s 17th FPSO/FSO delivery in Brazil, the ninth FPSO in the pre-salt region and MODEC’s first collaboration with Equinor”, MODEC said.

MODEC will operate and maintain the FPSO in its first year of production, according to a MODEC statement June 3, 2021. “Thereafter, Equinor plans to operate the Bacalhau facilities until end of the license period”, Equinor said Thursday.

Equinor operates Bacalhau with a 40 percent stake. “Bacalhau is the first field development in Brazil’s pre-salt to be developed by an international operator”, it noted.

The partners are Exxon Mobil Corp (40 percent) and Petrogal SA (20 percent), a joint venture of Portugal’s state-owned Galp Energia SGPS SA and China’s state-owned China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. The Brazilian government’s Pre-Sal Petroleo SA manages the production sharing contract.

Bacalhau sits 185 kilometers (114.95 miles) from the coast of Ilhabela municipality in Sao Paulo state, according to Equinor.

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