Project Profile
Value: US$3,000 million
Location: 370km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Area: unknown
Depth: 1,128m
Reserves: 200 million and 300 million barrels of oil equivalent
Production: 17,279 boepd (February 2015)
The Frade field is located 370km off of the coast of Rio de Janeiro in the Northern Campos Basin, Brazil. The heavy oil and gas field lies at a water depth of 1,128m and is estimated to contain 200m to 300m barrels of recoverable oil. The field is operated by Chevron, which has a 51.74% interest. Other partners include Petrobras, with 30%, along with Frade Japá o Petròleo, with 18.26%. The partners invested approximately US$3bn in developing the field. The field was discovered in 1986 by Petrobras and was subsequently appraised with a Petrobras well in 1989 and two Texaco wells in 2001. First production was in June 2009. In September 2010, production reached 65,000bpd. Peak output of 79,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids a day was achieved in 2011. The field will be operational until 2025. On 7 November 2011, an appraisal well encountered an unforeseen pressure spike during drilling operations. The wellhead was tightly sealed and the leak was blocked in four days. about 18 vessels were deployed to support the sheen remediation and well abandonment activities. The current and future drilling operations at Frade field have been temporarily suspended by Chevron. In December 2011, Brazil\'s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) issued orders to shut one of 11 production wells and four produced water injection wells at the Frade FPSO facility.
Brazilian regulator ANP allowed Chevron to restart all production wells at Frade in March 2015, after allowing four wells to start producing at a rate of 17,279 boepd in February 2015. Brazilian judges ordered a criminal prosecution against Chevron over the affair, though the US supermajor said it believed the complaint was without merit.
In August 2004, Intecsea was awarded a contract to carry out front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for the field. The engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract for the FPSO was awarded to SBM Offshore in 2006. SBM awarded a contract to MacGREGOR to provide a 485t plimsoll winch for the FPSO. The winch helps moor chains. It is also used for pulling in the risers. MacGREGOR also supplied a 45t supplementary winch, electro-hydraulic power supply and rotary platform. FMC Technologies was awarded a US$130m contract in 2006 to provide subsea systems for the field, including 19 subsea trees, 22 wellhead systems, 28 manifolds, foundation structures and other equipment. In June 2006, Subsea 7 won a contract to install 41km of gas pipelines connecting the Frade FPSO and Roncador pipeline manifold. Kongsberg was chosen for its Kongsberg process simulation for creating subsea dynamic simulation models. The models were used for training and operation at the field.
Operator:
Chevron: Operator with 51.74% interest
Petrobras: 30% interest
Frade Japá o Petròleo: 18.26% interest
Contractors:
Intecsea: FEED contract
SBM: EPC contract
FMC Technologies: Subsea systems
Subsea 7: Gas Pipelines
Kongsberg: Process simulation
Subcontractors:
MacGregor Group: Plimsoll winch