PRIO starts gas-powered generation at the Octopus & Hammerhead Shark hub

16 Mar 2022

Rio de Janeiro, March 2022

PRIO, the largest independent oil and gas company in Brazil, has just finished the project to improve the power generation system of FPSO Bravo, part of the Polvo & Tubarão Martelo cluster in the Campos Basin.

This is the first time that the generation of electric energy necessary for the operation of the fields is no longer done using Diesel fuel, but with natural gas produced at the pole.

Using natural gas instead of diesel: an environmental gain

The modification of the gas treatment and compression module occurred without the need for production downtime. The initiative is in line with the company’s environmental and economic objectives, assisting in the economics and extension of the useful life of the fields, and was only made feasible by the interconnection, the tieback, completed in July 2021.

“With the tieback between Polvo and Tubarão Martelo, PRIO consolidated the power generation of the two fields in a single FPSO, the Bravo. Together the fields were consuming about 80,000 liters of diesel fuel per day. With the use of the gas produced in the field, which was not used before, the expectation is to supply 80% of this demand with great environmental and financial benefits,
celebrates the company’s Operations Director, Francilmar Fernandes.

The change has a significant environmental gain, with the reduction of gas burning in the unit’s flare and of the diesel that was used in the platforms, besides the reduction of the logistics involved in delivering this fuel.

To illustrate, the reduction in direct diesel consumption is about 60,000 liters per day, or enough to fill 120,000 bottles of mineral water or the fuel tanks of 1,100 cars.

With the adequacy, PRIO reduces the monthly emission of CO2 (carbon dioxide), to the equivalent of 30 thousand trees, which represents 25 soccer fields of forests or, still, not using 34 thousand cars for the period of 30 days.

“The natural gas power generation project on FPSO Bravo has a payback of 5 months, with it, we consider the Fênix Project concluded. This adaptation was the last stage of the interconnection project of the Polvo and TBMT fields that, since its implementation has already provided increased reliability, safety and operational efficiency, in addition to reducing operating costs, as a result of the simplification of operations and air, sea and land synergies. This is the PRIO culture, the incessant search for the optimization of resources with safety and sustainability,” adds Fernandes.

The Fenix project

In July 2021, PRIO completed the first phase of the Fénix Project, with the interconnection, or tieback, between the Octopus and Tubarão Martelo (TBMT) fields.

With the decommissioning of FPSO Polvo and, now, with the associated natural gas produced for energy generation in the cluster, the company concludes the project. As a result the company has already reduced the lifting cost to less than $12 per barrel.

The reduction in costs for the new pole allows more oil to be recovered in the reservoirs, over a longer period, and directly impacts the significant reduction in emissions and environmental impact of operations in the producing pole.

The economic life of both assets has been extended to 2037, representing an extension of more than 15 years and an increase of 40 million barrels to the Octopus Field reserve.

“It will be another 15 years generating jobs and royalties for the states and municipalities involved,” Fernandes recalls.

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