Chevron takes first oil from Campos field

Chevron has made the first 740,000 bl offload of heavy oil from the Brazilian Campos basin's Papa-Terra field, the company said today.

The lift was made from the 140,000 b/d floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit P-63 via the Chevron-owned and operated tanker Brasil Voyager, a tanker built specifically for offloading oil from Papa-Terra, on 9 May.

The oil came from the first two production wells in the field. A third well was added to the field on 12 May and two additional wells are expected later this year.

The Brasil Voyager is expected to offload around 950,000 bl of 12-17° API crude from the post-salt Papa-Terra every 40 days, Chevron said.

"The Brasil Voyager is now bringing cargo to the market, including providing supply to the Pascagoula Refinery," Les Wood, a Chevron Brasil manager said.

The Papa-Terra project includes P-63, which started more than four months behind schedule in November 2013, and Tension Leg Wellhead Platform P-61, expected to arrive at the field in the third quarter, more than six months behind schedule.

Heavy oil production wells will tie in to P-61 while light oil production wells will tie back to the FPSO.

Papa-Terra is operated by Brazil's state-controlled Petrobras with a 62.5pc stake. Chevron holds the remaining 37.5pc.

nw/tdf