Brazilian oil and fuel firm PRIO, previously often called PetroRio, has acquired the go-ahead from the Brazilian Institute of the Surroundings and Pure Renewable Sources (Ibama) for its offshore drilling plans within the Campos Basin, Espírito Santo. A sixth-generation semi-submersible drilling rig will perform the deliberate six-well drilling program off the coast of Brazil.

PRIO, which acquired a drilling license for the Wahoo subject on February 28 from Ibama, has begun mobilizing the Hunter Queen rig to begin the multi-well drilling marketing campaign that entails six wells, together with 4 manufacturing and two injection wells. The undertaking, with a complete funding of $850 million, is predicted to supply as much as 40,000 barrels of oil per day.

Beforehand, the corporate deliberate to spud the Wahoo properly in early 2024, a course of anticipated to final till the tip of the yr, with the primary oil anticipated between July and August. The property that will be used to execute the undertaking, except for the Hunter Queen drilling rig, embrace a subsea set up vessel, each owned by the agency, and several other companion vessels for putting in subsea traces and tools. The beginning of fuel commercialization from Frade/Wahoo and Albacora Leste was additionally on the 2024 agenda.

Roberto Monteiro, PRIO’s CEO, commented: “Wahoo is our precedence and a undertaking we’ve been getting ready for for a very long time. Along with rising our manufacturing by as much as 40 thousand barrels per day, its operation will enhance the financial system with jobs and, sooner or later, with the technology of greater than R$4 billion in royalties for Espírito Santo and the Union over its lifetime.”

Whereas the agency underlines that the undertaking had already generated round R$1 billion within the native provide chain earlier than the operation stage, the following step is the analysis of the environmental affect research, seen as essential for issuing the preliminary license and the license to put in the subsea infrastructure that can allow manufacturing.

PRIO claims that Wahoo might be its first totally developed subject, the place it has set its thoughts on a tie-back to present floating manufacturing, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel as an answer for improvement. This subsea tie-back of roughly 30 kilometers in size will allow the manufacturing from the sector.

The tie-back will join Wahoo to the FPSO Frade, which has a processing capability of 100,000 barrels of oil per day. Following the acquisition in March 2021, the sector was declared commercially viable in December of the identical yr, after feasibility research. Whereas there are already exploratory wells that show the presence of oil, the earlier operator didn’t develop the infrastructure mandatory for manufacturing.

Francilmar Fernandes, PRIO’s Operations Director, highlighted: “Whereas we take the following steps concerning licensing, we proceed to make changes to the Frade FPSO to accommodate the brand new manufacturing. The interconnection with the FPSO Frade is essential for the success of the undertaking, as a result of with out this construction, Wahoo could be economically unviable.”

The Hunter Queen sixth-generation semisubmersible drilling rig, a part of PRIO’s property since July 2022, accomplished its first operation on the Frade subject, which underwent a significant revitalization overhaul in 2023.

“The drilling rig might be utilized in all our fields any longer, whether or not for drilling or upkeep of wells and manufacturing. It’ll have a strategic position initially of operations within the Wahoo Subject, the place we anticipate to drill 4 manufacturing wells and two injector wells,” Fernandes beforehand emphasised.

The rig, which may work in water depths of as much as 3,000 meters and drill as much as 10,000 meters, can carry out upkeep operations and enhancements which are mandatory on all of PRIO’s offshore fields.