Patola oil field is located at a water depth of approximately 280m, adjacent to the producing Bauna and Piracaba fields, within the BM-S-40 production licence in Santos Basin, offshore Brazil.
It is a low-risk, near-field expansion project, which is expected to more than double the total current production rates of BM-S-40 to approximately 30,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
Recommended White Papers
Recommended Buyers Guides
Owned and operated by Karoon Energy, the field will require an estimated investment of $175m to $195m for development. The final investment decision (FID) on the project development was taken in June 2021.
The first production of oil from the field is expected in early 2023 with targeted initial flow rates of more than 10,000bpd.
BM-S-40 production licence location
Located in the southern part of Santos Basin, the concession BM-S-40 comprises Bauna and Piracaba light oil fields and the undeveloped Patola oil discovery. It lies 50km to 60km away from Karoon’s Neon and Goia discoveries in the east and 50km from the Clorita exploration block in the south.
Patola field geology and reserves
The field contains oligocene turbidite sandstone reservoirs similar to Bauna and Piracaba fields with high oil quality and reservoir characteristics. It was discovered by an exploration well 4-SPS-91 within the BM-S-40 production ring-fence in 2011.
The Patola field holds estimated 2C contingent resources of 13.2 million barrels (Mmbbl) of oil and an additional 1.5Mmbbl in Bauna from injecting Patola gas into the Bauna reservoir. The hydrocarbons will be accessed through the infrastructure that will be developed under the planned Patola development project.
Patola field development details
Patola field will be developed with two vertical subsea production wells commencing in late 2022. The wells will be drilled and developed using Maersk Developer semisubmersible rig once the four-well Bauna workover campaign is completed.
The installation and fabrication of Patola subsea infrastructure, including Christmas trees, flowlines, risers, controls and umbilicals, will be executed for the project. The subsea infrastructure will be tied back to the spare riser slots of the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, Cidade de Itajaí, located at the existing Bauna field.
The project also includes an option to drill a control well on the nearby Neon light oil discovery.
FPSO details
The FPSO Cidade de Itajaí has a length of 871.71ft, breadth of 140.09ft and depth of 64.96ft. It has an oil production capacity of 80,000bpd, a crude storage capacity of 100.323m³, produced water treatment capacity of 76,000bpd and a water injection capacity of 96,000bpd.
The FPSO features spread mooring, five gas turbine generators for power generation and accommodation for 70 people.
It is currently utilising approximately 50% of its processing capacity with adequate capacity for additional tie-backs.
Financing for the oil field development in Santos Basin
Approximately $17m of the total investment has been allocated for the procurement of long-lead items for the project. The remaining funding will be provided by Karoon’s $160m reserve-based, non-recourse first debt facility secured from a syndicate of global lenders, including ING, Deutsche, Macquarie and Shell.
Contractors involved
In April 2020, Karoon Energy signed a contract with Altera & Ocyan for the chartering and operations of FPSO Cidade de Itajaí until February 2026. Altera & Ocyan is a joint venture (JV) between Norwegian offshore services group Altera Infrastructure and Brazilian oil and gas services provider Ocyan.
Maersk Drilling received a contract worth approximately $34m to provide its Maersk Developer rig for the Bauna completion programme with an option for the potential development of the Patola field and drilling of the Neon control well in April 2021.
TechnipFMC received a contract to provide engineering, procurement, construction and installation services for the Patola project development in June 2021. The scope of work includes the design, installation and fabrication of the subsea infrastructure.
