Equinor ASA and its partners have launched production in Bacalhau in Brazil’s offshore Santos Basin, which the Norwegian majority state-owned energy major said is the biggest field it has developed overseas.

Discovered 2012 in Santos’ pre-salt region by primarily state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the ultra-deepwater Bacalhau holds recoverable reserves exceeding one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), according to Equinor, which took over as operator 2016.

Bacalhau has one of the biggest floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels deployed in Brazil, designed to produce up to 220,000 barrels of crude a day and store at least 2m barrels, according to contractor MODEC Inc.

The FPSO has been permanently moored in waters about 2,050 metres deep (6,725.72 feet) using a spread mooring system developed by MODEC's SOFEC Inc, MODEC said separately.

MODEC will operate and maintain the FPSO in its first year of production, according to a MODEC statement on 3 June 2021. "Thereafter, Equinor plans to operate the Bacalhau facilities until end of the license period", Equinor said on Thursday.

Equinor operates Bacalhau with a 40% stake. "Bacalhau is the first field development in Brazil’s pre-salt to be developed by an international operator", it noted.

The partners are Exxon Mobil Corp (40%) and Petrogal SA (20%), a joint venture of Portugal's state-owned Galp Energia SGPS SA and China's state-owned China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. The Brazilian government's Pre-Sal Petroleo SA manages the production sharing contract.

Bacalhau sits 185km (114.95 miles) from the coast of Ilhabela municipality in Sao Paulo state, according to Equinor.

For more information visit EICDataStream https://eicdatastream.the-eic.com/search/project/708865/Bacalhau-Oil-Field-Phase-2-

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