OTC 15049

The Importance of Brazilian Deepwater Activities to the Oil Industry

Technological Development
G. Estrella, Petróleo Brasileiro S. A.

Copyright 2003, Offshore Technology Conference

initial discoveries in Campos Basin, starting in 1974, came as
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2003 Offshore Technology Conference held in a relief. But they also posed the challenge of bringing the
Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 5–8 May 2003.
newly discovered prolific oil province on to production, as fast
This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
and at the lowest cost as possible.
presented, have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Offshore Technology Conference or officers. Electronic reproduction, Basically, the problem consisted of producing in
distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written
consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print
conditions never experienced before, since the Garoupa and
is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The Enchova Fields, the first discoveries, were located in 120m
abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was
presented. water depth, considered as deep waters, at the time.

Using fixed platforms, the available field proven

Abstract
solution, was both technically and economically feasible, but
Since 1977, Petrobras has had to innovate in order to increase
its implementation would take years, and the costs were
the Brazilian oil output. The challenges of deepwaters (400 m
relatively high. The country also had to limit the use of foreign
<Water Depth< 1,000 m) and ultra-deepwaters (Water Depth
services and goods to a bearable minimum, to not worsen the
>1,000 m) in Brazil had to be faced once their overcoming
economical scenario. In order to overcome these problems,
were the only alternative to reach the desired production levels
Petrobras decided to try, in parallel with the development of
as well as to attend the required fields development pace.
these two fields, new ideas and concepts, thus using Campos
Basin as a real scale lab.
At the time that such problem was identified, the use
of conventional technology would demand both a long lead-
Starting in 1984, new discoveries located in even
time to the first barrel and the resources were not compatible
deeper water, ranging from 300 to over 2,600 m, have
with the urge of cutting down the oil import, and to the
displayed Campos Basin full potential, that is, the existence of
delicate country foreign cash flow balance. Therefore, the best
giant deepwater fields. These discoveries include the
way to workaround the problem was by using both
following fields: Albacora (in 1984), Marlim (1985), Albacora
international and local innovative technology in its own
Leste (1986), Marlim Sul (1987), Marlim Leste (1987),
production facilities as a real-scale R&D lab. To achieve the
Barracuda (1989), Caratinga (1989), Espadarte (1994),
necessary technological level, a long path has been tracked
Roncador (1996), Jubarte (2002) and Cachalote (2002). They
and several contributions to the oil industry were made.
became the main driving forces for increasing the effort to
develop and test new concepts, again directly in the field.
This paper gives a glance on the brazillian offshore
activities, describing the importance of brazillian exploration
The Importance of Deepwater Production
and production to the oil industry. It also highlights the main
to Petrobras
technological developments performed by Petrobras to
By the end of 2002, Petrobras proved reserves of oil and gas
produce in deep and ultra-deep waters, safely and profitably.
reached 11.01 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to
The technology trends, as well as the future challenges to
SPE methodology. It is important mentioning that 46.0% of
support the activities are also discussed.
the total are located in water depth ranging from 400 to 1,000
m and 29.9% in water depth beyond 1,000 m; that is, more
Introduction
than 75% of the total reserves are in deep and
The severe economical impact of the 1973 world oil crisis
ultra-deep waters.
triggered a huge worldwide increase in the investments on oil
and gas exploration and production activities, including the
Reflecting this distribution, its deep and ultra-
search for new technology to produce fields located in
deepwater production has been steadily increasing: from 1.7%,
hostile environment.
in 1987, it reached more than 66%, in 2002, of the year
average production, as shown in Chart 1. In May 12th 2002,
For Brazil, a country facing an unfavorable balance
Petrobras domestic peak oil daily production was 1,616,355
of payments resulting mostly from its large oil imports, the
2 OTC 15049
bopd, being also 66% of it from deep and ultra-deepwater.
These figures set Petrobras as the worldwide main producer
in deepwater.
The Company plans to reach a 1.9-million bopd
production in 2006, with close to 70% from deep and
ultra-deepwaters.
In addition, it is likely that most of the new finds will
be located in ultra-deepwaters. Petrobras holds around 65% of
the area of its offshore exploratory blocks in waters beyond
400 m. Consequently, in recent years it has been increasing its
exploratory drilling activities in deeper and deeper waters.
Technological Trends and Future Challenges
All those figures clearly show that deep and ultra-deep waters
have been and will remain as the main source of production
increase in Brazil. Additionally, the country should remain as
one of the major deepwater producers, worldwide. The latter
trend is confirmed by the specialist’s forecasts, as shown in
Chart 2, which displays Wood Mackenzie’s figures for the
period ending in 2010.
But the pursuit of exploration and production
development in deep and ultra-deep waters requires a
continuous research effort, in order to overcome many of the
current challenges.
Exploration faces the task of discovering the
petroleum systems of ultra-deepwater regions. Within these
systems, we must determine the occurrences of reservoirs.
These occurrences need to be distinguished in regard to the
type of oil they contain, especially concerning the prediction
of API gravity.
Behavior of the reservoir is determined by the
characteristics of its rocks and the fluids. The reservoir´s
continuity is essential, in order to enable displacement of oil
by water. The oil property variations are essential to determine
the recoverable volumes. Investigating the alternatives to
displace medium-to-low API oil is also important.
The production aspects are related to bringing the oil
from the subsurface to the surface facilities. Ultra-deepwater
production risers are critical to allow the flow of oil from the
reservoir to the floating production units. Flow assurance must
be established for the continuity of production. Extended
reach, long horizontal and intelligent wells are key to attaining
high productivity.
To summarize, the technological issues to be
approached encompass the capability to deal with, or to grant:
• For the currently producing fields, four major challenges
are identified:
handling of increasing water cut and its
associated problems, such as scaling, loss of
injectivity, high oil content in disposal water, out
of specification crude oil, and corrosion;
reduction of lifting costs in mature and low
productivity fields through light intervention to
repair gravel and frac-pack, increase reliability of
tubing string, DHSV and subsea equipment,
enhance production control using intelligent
completion, well bore stimulation without rigs,
and efficient reservoir drainage through the use
of side tracks and multilateral wells;
reduction of production losses by improving
operational practices to properly deal with high
viscosity emulsions, hydrates and wax
deposition;
Reservoir monitoring and imaging to identify the
remaining oil after water flooding
Improved reservoir sweeping methods to grant
high recovery factor
• For fields under development, or still to be developed, the
following technical gaps are being tackled:
Production of heavier crude in deep to ultra-deep
water from unconsolidated sandstone reservoir
Large-bore, long-horizontal, high-PI wells, with
efficient sand control system
Production units, moored in deep and ultra-deep
waters, designed to process larger volumes
of fluids
Deepwater production and export risers in ultra-
deep water
Active heating risers & flowlines
Subsea boosting & processing for ultra-deep
water
Heavy oil offshore artificial lift & flow assurance
New discoveries of small to medium accumulations will not
be economical unless they are developed through up-to-40km
long tie-backs to centrally located production units:
- Subsea boosting (multiphase pump, subsea ESP, sea
floor separation and pumping)
- Advanced flow assurance practices
- Insulated and heated flowlines
- Remote water injection system.
Main Deepwater Technological Developments
and Challenges
Such a demand requires a proactive posture towards
technological developments to carry out exploitation in a safe
and economical manner.
Therefore, Petrobras has structured and implemented
multidisciplinary technological corporate programs in the E&P
area. Such programs are designed to link the Company’s
business objectives and targets, resulting from its strategic and
business plans, by assigning highly specialized human
resources, from the formal organizational structure, to conduct
the necessary development projects in order to accomplish the
well-defined business targets. Each program has its own
project portfolio, analyzed and adjusted annually in
accordance to the strategic and business plans, and receives
constant operational feedback from the Business Units.
Currently, to meet the described demands, Petrobras
relies on three major Technological Programs, namely,
PROCAP-3000, PRAVAP, and more recently, PROPES. They
OTC 15049
are aimed at, respectively, ultra-deep water production,
enhanced oil recovery, and offshore heavy oil production.
Actually, the development of multidisciplinary
technological corporate programs began in 1986, when the
Petrobras Technological Capability Program on Deep Water
Production Systems, the first PROCAP, was launched. This
Program was carried out in six years, and its main objective
was to improve the Company’s technical expertise in oil and
gas production in water as deep as 1,000 m. Its main result
was full technological capability through the Floating
Production System based on semi-submersibles, which has
helped Petrobras to produce in such a water depth.
The results achieved with the first program and the
discoveries in deeper waters that followed encouraged
Petrobras to set up PROCAP-2000. This program lasted until
1999 and encompassed 20 system projects that aimed at
making it technically feasible to produce in depths up to two
thousand meters. This program, too, was successful at
reaching these targets, thanks to the cooperation of outside
institutions such as universities, service and manufacturer
companies. The main PROCAP-2000 achievements were
the following:
• Development of deepwater subsea equipment such as:
o Horizontal Christmas Trees for 2,500m WD
o Drill Pipe Riser as a Completion Riser for ultra
deepwaters (a unique Drill Pipe Riser was
specially developed for use by a Dynamically
Positioned FPSO)
o Shared Actuator Manifold - Mac Manifold
• Development, installation and operation of an Electrical
Submersible Pump (ESP) in subsea well in deepwater The
system comprising a deepwater horizontal tree, deepwater
power cables plus connectors and a deepwater subsea
power transformer was installed in 1,109 m water depth in
Albacora Leste field.
• Development of Subsea Separation System – VASPS
(Vertical Annular Separation and Pumping System)
concept together with ENI-Agip, Mobil and the
European Union.
• Development, installation and operation of SMFM-1000,
the first Subsea Multiphase metering system in deepwater
(Albacora field, 450 m water depth).
• Development of methods to predict, prevent and mitigate
wax and hydrate build-up in subsea flowlines and
equipment (pigging devices, application range for foam
and multisize pigs, chemical inhibitors, SGN™ - an
exhotermal chemical reaction to melt down the wax
deposits from the pipe walls, theoretical and experimental
work on hydrate plugs under multiphase flow; techniques
to locate and dissolve plugs in subsea pipelines).
• Conceptual design of dry completion units for deepwater
Campos Basin such as Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs) and
Deep Draft Caisson Vessels (DDCVs) with or without
storage capacity.
• Development of technology to moor drilling, production
and offloading systems in water depths down to 2,000 m
such as taut-leg systems using polyester fiber ropes.
3
• Development of the Differentiated Compliance and
Anchoring System, DICAS, which is, basically, a spread
mooring system for Floating Production Storage and
Offloading (FPSO’s) vessels with different stiffness at the
bow and stern of the ship. This innovative system allows
the removal of the complex and expensive devices such as
turrets and swivels.
• Development of the Vertically Loaded Anchors VLAs,
which could resist from purely horizontal up to totally
vertical loads (considered the first of its type in the world,
this innovative anchoring system was installed in the P-27
semi-submersible platform, in Voador field, in 530 m
water depth, in April 1999).
• Development and installation of a novel free-fall pile
called TORPEDO pile.
• Development of deepwater flexible risers, flowlines,
umbilicals and subsea connections for water depths down
to 1,500 m.
• Development, Installation and Operation of the Vertical
Connection System to tie in flexible flowlines to both
subsea trees and manifolds.
• Development and Installation of a Steel Catenary Riser
(SCR) used by the first time in a semi-submersible
production platform P-18, in Marlim field, in
September 1999.
Moved by the potential fields to be discovered in
water depths around 3,000 m as well as the drive to bring into
production the already discovered deepwater fields, Petrobras
launched, in June 2000, PROCAP-3000 (Petrobras
Technological Program on Ultra-Deepwater Exploitation
Systems) to accomplish such goals. It is expected to last 6
years, from 2000 to 2005.
Initially, the program’s portfolio was composed by 19
systemic projects. On August 2002, as a result of the second
annual evaluation, it was revised, achieving a total of 22
systemic projects, as shown below:
SYSTEMIC PROJECTS
1 Well control in ultra-deepwater
2 Intelligent completion for ultra-deepwater
3 Sand production control optimizations
4 Drilling, well test evaluation and completion for
deep horizons
5 Drilling, well test evaluation and completion in
ultra-deepwater
6 Lightweight fluid drilling in ultra-deepwater
7 Flow assurance in ultra-deepwater
8 Analysis of piggable, pipe-in-pipe and electrically
heated lines alternatives for ultra-deepwater
9 Boosting systems for ultra-deepwater
10 Gas-lift for deepwater satellite well
11 Steel catenary riser systems for ultra-deepwater
12 Flexible riser systems for ultra-deepwater
13 Subsea risers and pipelines (gathering,
exportation and control) for 3,000m water depth
14 Alternative riser systems for ultra-deepwater
15 Long-term tests in 3,000m water depth
4 OTC 15049
SYSTEMIC PROJECTS
16 Subsea equipment for 3,000m water depth
17 Unconventional subsea production systems
18 Mooring systems for ultra-deepwater
19 Cost-effectiveness analysis for different hull
concepts considering dry and wet completion
20 Dry completion stationary production systems
21 Acquisition and treatment of geological,
geophysical, geotechnical and oceanographic data
for ultra-deepwater
22 Deep Star follow-up
PROCAP-3000 Portfolio (2003)
So far, the main PROCAP-3000 achievements were
the following:
• Design and execution of the MLS-42HA well, a 3,211 m
lateral offset, 500 m long horizontal segment Extended
Reach Well in 1,212 m WD.
• Design and execution of the ESS-110-HP well, a gravel
pack equipped, 1,076 m long horizontal segment well, in
1,323 m WD.
• Installation and operation of the Subsea Separation System
VASPS (Vertical Annular Separation and Pumping
System) prototype, in Marimbá field, in July 2001,
resulting in a 33% production increase, without gas-lift.
• Development of a novel installation method by cable of
subsea equipment, used for the Roncador field gas-lift
manifold, in 1,885 m WD.
• Development of Steel Catenary Risers for 1,800 m WD, to
be used in the semisubmersible P-52 (Roncador field,
Module 2 – Phase 1A).
• Basic design of a Tethered Riser Buoy system.
Through PROCAP-3000, the Company expects to
find solutions that will make oil found in water depth up to
3,000 m technically and economically viable. Its ultimate goal
is to provide technical solutions (processes, procedures,
software and equipment) for Petrobras field developments,
either individually or through partnerships in joint field
development.
Petrobras created in 1993 its Advanced Oil Recovery
Program-PRAVAP, which is a strategic program designed to
improve – through technological research and application –
the standards of oilfield development, tailored to deal with the
Brazilian oil scenario. The program operates in partnership
with international and Brazilian universities and other
research institutions.
From 1993 to 1999, PRAVAP was focused mainly on
EOR - Enhanced Oil Recovery, being this expression mainly
understood as tertiary recovery and reservoir characterization
methodology development to increase the recovery factor of
oil and gas fields. In this first phase, the main target fields of
the program where the mature onshore oil fields located in the
Northeast of Brazil.
From 1999 up to the present date, the main target
fields of the program are offshore oil fields in Campos Basin.
This correction of route was motivated first by the fact that
many offshore fields in Campos Basin can be now considered
mature or growing into maturity.
Next, the scope of the research program has been
broadned, to deal not only with tertiary recovery methods, but
also to:
• Deal with IOR - Improved Oil Recovery, which can be
understood as any effort to improve the reserves estimation
under uncertainties;
• Help aggregating reserves in fields which can not be
economically produced with the present technology;
• Improve the economics of exploitation;
• Anticipate production through well scale treatments; and
• Increase the recovery factor itself.
This definition includes efforts such as water
management, advanced well interventions and seismic for
reservoir characterization and production monitoring.
This program’s objective is to provide technologies
for Petrobras new enterprises in the area of oil and gas
production development as well as allow the recovery factor
increase of mines under exploitation, rendering technological
support to enable the company to hold its distinct position in
the world oil scenario.
The PRAVAP project portfolio is given in the
table below.
SYSTEMIC PROJECTS
1 WAG / Polymers
2 Reservoir Representation
3 Assessment of Uncertainty-based Production
Development Projects
4 Well Treatment
5 Water Management
6 Revitalization of Mature Fields
7 Reservoir-Applied Seismic
PRAVAP Portfolio
The main PRAVAP achievements were the
following:
• A 90% operational efficiency of the water injection in
Petrobras offshore fields; and
• A 13,000-bbl/day-production increase in Marlin field after
remote treatments of inorganic scale formation.
In October 2002, Petrobras created a Technological
Program with focus on its Offshore Heavy Oil Fields. The
Program, named PROPES, covers most of the upstream
disciplines and an interface with the downstream area. The
objective is to develop or integrate existing technologies that
may turn into reality the challenge of producing the heavy oil
reservoirs already discovered in the Campos and Santos
Basins, with potential reserves of more than 4 billion barrels.
OTC 15049
Most of the significant heavy oil volumes discovered
in these basins are in the 13 – 17° API range, with live oil
viscosities between 20 and 400 cP. Some of the fields are
located in shallow waters, which simplifies the appraisal and
the development strategy, but most of them are in deepwater,
bringing extra complexities.
The Heavy Oil Program comprises 8 areas: reservoir
engineering; well technology; artificial lift; flow assurance; oil
processing (separation and treatment); Extended Well Tests;
subsea and production facilities; pre-treatment / refining. The
program is multi-disciplinary, and amongst its main R&D
projects we can depict:
• Development and application of high-horsepower, high-
rate, large MTBF Submarine Electrical Submersible
Pumps. The project analyses the ESP performance with
free gas fractions up to 40%, pumping oils with
viscosities up to 400 cP.
• Feasibility of alternative artificial lift methods for heavy
oil in deepwater, such as: jet pumps, progressive cavity
pumps, hydraulic submersible pumps, improved
continuous gas-lift, among others.
• Characterization of water in oil emulsions. For the heavy
and viscous oil offshore reservoirs, this is a very
important matter to improve the reliability of the
bottomhole pressures prediction as well as the
pipelines design.
• Drilling and completion – with efficient sand control
mechanism – of long horizontal well lengths in non-
consolidated sandstone reservoirs, with low fracture
gradients. The casing diameter must allow the installation
of downhole artificial lift systems.
• Development and application of new technologies for oil-
water separation. Ideally, the system should be compact,
to be installed on a Floating Vessel, and present a good
performance with reasonable separation temperature and
residence time.
• Optimization of the Production Unit design, to deal with
heavy oil and, mainly, with large quantities of
produced water.
The technology development is being made on a step-
by-step basis, with equipment suppliers, service companies,
consulting companies and universities. Whenever possible,
the technologies will be tested in shallow water fields or
onshore fields before being extended to the deepwater
environment.
The PROPES complete portfolio is given in the
table below.
SYSTEMIC PROJECTS
1 Reservoir technology for heavy offshore crude
oils
2 Long horizontal wells
3 Equipment for large bore and long horizontal
wells
4 Artificial lift of heavy and viscous crude oils
5
SYSTEMIC PROJECTS
5 Flow assurance and transport of heavy and
viscous crude oils
6 Separation and treatment of heavy and viscous
crude oils
7 Integrated evaluation and production mobile
system (PIPA)
8 Production units with high liquid processing
capacity
9 Characterization and pre-treatment of heavy oil
PROPES Portfolio
It is important mentioning that, unlike similar
industry programs such as DEMO 2000 and DeepStar,
PROCAP-3000, PRAVAP and PROPES are in-house
programs developed by Petrobras in cooperation with several
external companies and universities, in Brazil and abroad.
Their budgets are mostly funded by the company’s corporate
budget. They share a common basic design, which aims to
efficiently meet the Company’s internal technological
demand, support the ongoing or planned production
developments and incorporate the necessary corrections
eventually identified.
On the other hand, the technological partners
involved, especially the suppliers, are encouraged to market
the products in order to bring down the cost by incrementing
the manufacturing scale. Teherefore, the resulting technologies
have spread out throughout the oil industry, by being
implemented – in many cases – by other companies, and
represent a remarkable contribution from Petrobras, and its
partners in technological developments, to the segment.
Conclusions
Petrobras staff believes that the above-mentioned R&D
projects are to play a key-role in ultra-deepwater production,
especially in Brazil. Their development should make possible
the production in the 3,000 m water depth range, provide the
technological support to the ongoing development of
deepwater fields, and allow the reduction of OPEX of
producing fields and both CAPEX and OPEX of new fields.
The experience acquired by Petrobras and its
suppliers over more than fifteen years; the existence of a large
resources infrastructure; a deepwater knowledge network that
provides technical and operational support; and success of the
focused in-house deepwater R&D programs, all give Petrobras
the tools and confidence to face future challenges in producing
medium and heavy oil in ultra-deepwaters.
Throughout its history, Petrobras has been
developing and adapting new technologies that have
contributed, somehow, to the advancement of the oil industry
around the world. These technologies have pushed Petrobras
toward production in ultra-deepwaters, with a positive effect
throughout the oil sector.
6 OTC 15049

Aknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the colleagues from Petrobras
E&P, and R&D Center for their contributions, support
and cooperation.

I do also want to thank Petrobras for the permission

to publish this paper.

References
1. Assayag, M. I. and Coelho, M. V.: “An Overview Of Petrobras
Current Technological Program On Ultra-Deepwater
Exploitation Systems – PROCAP-3000”. Offshore West Africa,
March 2001.
2. Pinto, A. C. C., Branco, C. C. M., Matos, J. S., Vieira, P. M.,
Silva Guedes S., Pedroso Jr., C. Coelho, A. C. D., and Ceciliano,
M. M.: “Offshore Heavy Oil in Campos Basin: The Petrobras
Experience”, OTC 15283, Offshore Technology Conference,
May 2003.
3. Shecaira, F. S., Branco, C.M., Souza, A.L.S., Portella, R.C., Pinto,
A.C and Johann, P.R., “IOR: The Brazilian Perspective”,
SPE/DOE Thirteenth Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery
held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 13–17 April 2002.
4. Souza, A.L.S., “Reservoir Management Directions for Re-
injection and Disposal of Produced Water”, Rio Oil and Gas
Expo and Conference, October 2000.
5. Bezerra, M. C., Rosário, F. F. and Rocha, A.A., “Scale Prediction
and Remediation to Deep Water Fields, Paper SPE 80403,
presented at SPE 5th International Symposium on Oilfield Scale
to be held in Aberdeen, UK on 29-30 January 2003.
6. K. Minami, A. S. Almeida, M. A. C. Diniz, C. L. Palagi, M. I.
Assayag, “Campos Basin: Challenges Still to Overcome”, OTC
15225, Offshore Technology Conference, May 2003.
7. A. Latham, “Global Deepwater - Delivering Value”, DOT XIII,
October 2001, Rio de Janeiro.
OTC 15049 7

Chart 1 – Petrobras Oil Production

Chart 2 – World Deepwater Oil Production Forecast