The Papa-Terra field offshore Brazil has been producing since November 2013. Image courtesy of Jose Cesar Martins Pacheco/ Agência Petrobras.
The Papa-Terra field is located in the southern Campos Basin, approximately 110km southeast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Image courtesy of Agência Petrobras.
3R Petroleum Offshore, a subsidiary of 3R Petroleum Óleo e Gás, agreed to acquire a 62.5% interest in the Papa Terra field from Petrobras in July 2021. Image courtesy of Jon Olav Eikenes.

The Papa-Terra deepwater oil field offshore Brazil has been in production since November 2013.

Brazilian state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) is the operator and holds a 62.5% stake in the Papa-Terra field, while the remaining 37.5% stake is held by Chevron.

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3R Petroleum Offshore, a subsidiary of Brazil-based 3R Petroleum Óleo e Gás, agreed to acquire a 62.5% interest in the Papa Terra field from Petrobras in July 2021. The value of the transaction is estimated to be approximately £76m ($105.6m).

3R Petroleum Offshore will assume operatorship of the Papa-Terra field as soon as the transaction is completed.

The 3R Group is the controlling shareholder holding a 70% equity interest in 3R Petroleum Offshore, while DBO Energy, an oil and gas firm backed by Germany’s RWE AG, holds the remaining 30% equity share.

Location, discovery, and reservoir details

The Papa-Terra field is located in the BC-20 concession, in the post-salt Campos Basin, approximately 110km southeast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The water depth in the field area is approximately 1,200m.

Discovered in the southern Campos basin in June 2003, the Pepa-Terra field contains heavy oil with oil gravity of 14 to 17 degrees API.

Water injection is being performed to support reservoir pressure and for enhanced oil recovery. The BC-20 concession contract expires in December 2032.

Production

The average oil and gas production at the Pepa-Terra field stood at 17,914 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boepd) in the first half of 2021 with gas accounting for approximately 4% of the total production.

Papa-Terra field infrastructure

The Papa-Tarra field comprises a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel named FPSO P-63, a tension-leg wellhead platform named TLWP P-61, six production wells, three injection wells, and other associated subsea infrastructure.

The production wells in the field are spread across TLWP P-61 and FPSO P-63. The TLWP P-61 exports the well stream via flexible lines to the FPSO P-63 for processing, storage, and offloading.

The FPSO P-63 commenced production in November 2013, while the TLWP P-61 started operations in March 2015. TLWP P-61 is the first platform to utilise dry-tree floating technology in Brazil.

Papa-Terra FPSO

Situated in 1,200m-deep waters, the FPSO measures 340m-long, 58m-wide, and 28m-high. It has an oil processing capacity of 140,000 barrels a day, a gas compression capacity of one million cubic metres a day, and a water injection capacity of 340,000 barrels a day. The oil storage capacity of the FPSO is approximately 1,400,000 barrels.

The FPSO offloads oil to the shuttle tankers for transport to shore, while gas is utilised for power generation and reinjection into the reservoir. The electricity generated on the FPSO is also supplied to the TLWP platform.

BassDrill Beta

Atlantic Tender Drilling’s (ATDL) BassDrill Beta rig is expected to be fully demobilised from the Papa-Terra field in August 2021.

ATDL received a notice from Petrobras to demobilise BassDrill Beta from the TLWP P-61 on the Papa-Terra field in December 2020.

Semi-submersible drilling rig BassDrill Beta was deployed adjacent to TLWP P-61 and a modular drilling package was assembled on the deck of TLWP P-61 for conducting drilling operations at the field in 2014. The term contract of BassDrill Beta with Petrobras started in March 2014.

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