Transocean Ltd. continues operating in Brazil while it evaluates a court order to suspend operations within 30 days while two offshore oil seeps are investigated. The court order also applied to Chevron Corp., which shut production at Frade field in March and has no other production in Brazil.
"We maintain that this case is without merit and reiterate that Transocean crews acted responsibly and quickly, following the highest industry standards,” a Transocean spokesman told OGJ on Aug. 2. “In addition, the ANP has stated that Transocean is not at fault in the Frade incident. We have a very strong case, and we will use every legal means necessary to prove it."
Transocean provided the drilling rig for Chevron’s Frade offshore oil project where seeps were reported in November 2011 and March 2012.
The field, discovered in 1986, lies in 3,800 ft of water in the Campos basin about 230 miles northeast of Rio Janeiro. Chevron, which has 51.74% interest, started production at Frade field in 2009 (OGJ Online, June 23, 2009).
Chevron operates Frade, which produced 18° gravity oil from shallow reservoirs requiring long horizontal wells. Chevron Brasil Upstream Frade Ltda. received authorization from Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) for a temporary suspension of field production (OGJ Online, Mar. 16, 2012).
Last year, Chevron reported well-control operations significantly reduced an oil seep believed to be coming from an appraisal well (OGJ, Nov. 21, 2011, Newsletter).
Partners in the field are Petroleo Brasileiro SA 30%, and Frade Japao Petroleo Ltda., a joint venture of Inpex Corp., Sojitz Corp., and Japan Oil, Gas & Metals Corp. 18.26%.
