Back

Operations

PRIO starts production from one more well of the Frade field revitalization campaign and increases daily production to 52 thousand barrels

01 Aug 2022 icone de compartilhamento

Rio de Janeiro, August 1, 2022 – PRIO (B3: PRIO3 – formerly PetroRio), Brazil’s largest independent oil and gas company and a pioneer in recovering and increasing the useful life of mature fields, has just started production from well MPU3A (7-FR-55H-RJS), the second in the revitalization campaign of the Frade field, located in the Campos Basin. The company expects its production to reach 3,500 thousand barrels per day, bringing PRIO’s average daily production to 52 thousand barrels.

With CAPEX much lower than ODP4, the new well used the subsea structure and part of the MUP3 well (currently without production). MPU3A took 40 days to complete, meeting the most conservative expectation of the programmed schedule and achieving a record time for this type of procedure in the company.

“The MPU3A is a concrete example of how PRIO operates. Once again, we followed our strategy, optimizing the existing resources to the maximum and improving the safety and performance of the field, since we took advantage of a section of the well that was with stalled production, as well as the entire subsea system. I can already say that the final result is exceptional. In only 40 days between start-up and first oil and at a cost of US$ 22 million, it is a milestone for our company, which will allow us to unlock and accelerate even more new projects,” says Francilmar Fernandes, PRIO’s operations director.

PRIO’s next step is to drill the other two injectors in the 1st phase of the FRP, ODI1A, which will also be a re-entry into an existing well, and OUI3. The forecast is that in the next three months the wells will be active, another important achievement for the company to establish itself as the largest independent oil and gas company in Latin America.

“We continue with our bold stance in our quest to develop and make the most of the mature fields, bringing together maximum operational efficiency and safety. It is worth highlighting that, for 10 years, Frade has not recorded any accidents with lost time and we are proud to be part of this history,” adds Fernandes.

Frade is located 121 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, has estimated reserves of 60.4 million barrels of heavy oil and an estimated abandonment date of 2,054. PRIO has been the operator of the field since 2019, when it acquired the asset that was operated by Chevron (51.7%), Petrobras (30%) and Frade Japan Petroleum (18.3%) as partners.

About PRIO
PRIO is the largest independent oil and gas company in Brazil, a pioneer in recovering and increasing the useful life of fields in production. With its assets located in the Campos Basin, the company seeks operational efficiency with process optimization, the use of new technologies and innovative solutions that aim to reduce costs, always with the premise of excellence and safety in operations. PRIO has been growing through acquisitions. Thanks to the constant positive results, it had a strong appreciation, becoming part of the B3 index, the main Brazilian stock exchange index in 2020.