Roncador Field Development: The Challenge of the Subsea Hardware Development
Authors: Moreira C.C. , Pinto F.J. , Sanches E.M. , Brack M. 
Published: October 2008

Until 1996, the worldwide experience in deepwater oil and gas production was limited to water depths of 1,000 m. The discovery of giant fields such as Roncador in Campos Basin, in water depths from 1,500 m to 2,000 m, has demanded development of new technologies, mainly subsea hardwares. The technical challenges, specially those associated to water depth, the flow assurance issues and the short time requirements for the first oil, have driven the adopted equipment development philosophy. The engineering and operational experiences with pilot systems, like the completion of well MLS-3, has helped and indicated the necessary corrections on the development philosophy.

The subsea production system concept in water depths up to 1,000 m has been used as an attractive solution to the offshore industry. Its extension for field developments in water as deep as 2,000m represents a challenge that industry is facing and overcoming.

This paper describes Petrobras experience in developing critical subsea equipment, such as, wet Christmas trees, gaslift manifolds, flowlines and risers. How Petrobras dealt with the necessity of starting oil and gas production of an oil field in a ultra-deep water region, like Roncador, in a short period of time is also described.

Introduction

For Petrobras, producing oil and gas in deep and ultra-deep waters is a necessity, because most of the Brazilian reserves are located there: 33% in deep water and 35% in ultra-deep water, and these numbers tend to grow.

The concept of the term deep waters has been changing along the years, being governed mostly by the technological achievements. Presently Petrobras considers deep waters water depths between 300m and 1,000m (980 to 3,280ft). Above 1,000m (3,280 ft) they are referred as ultra-deep waters.

To produce oil and gas from the newly discovered reserves in Campos Basin, Petrobras has started several technology development projects through the PROCAP Program. In six years, it has undertaken 109 interdisciplinary projects. Its overall result was to bring technical and economical feasibility of producing oil and gas in waters as deep as 1000 m using anchored Floating Production System, based on semisubmersibles. The second phase of this program, PROCAP 2000 (the same program, but with technological goals for ultra-deep waters until the year 2,000), started in 1993, with two major objectives:Enable Petrobras to produce oil and gas from offshore fields situated in ultra-deep water aiming to incorporate the reserves located at these water depths; andDevelop technological innovation projects aiming to reduce production costs, in comparison to the current conventional systems, in fields located in deep and ultra-deep waters. These Programs dependent on contacts with national and international, suppliers and research centers and on cooperation agreements and joint industry projects (JIP) with them.

The decision to develop Roncador field right after the discovery of RJS-436 well in water depth of 1,855m (6,086 ft.), ref. 1, shows that Petrobras is confident on the success of the technological progress achieved through its own and others capacitation programs to produce oil and gas from these ultradeep water fields.