Located in the hydrocarbon-prolific Northern Campos Basin, Frade is a fast-track project in the ultra-deepwaters of Brazil. With both heavy oil and gas, the field is situated in waters measuring approximately 3,700 feet (1,128 meters) about 75 miles (121 kilometers) from the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. With an API of 19 to 22 degrees, Frade recoverable reserves are estimated at 200 to 300 MMbo.

Its first development offshore Brazil, Chevron serves as the operator with 51.7% interest in the field. Partners include Brazilian NOC Petrobras with 30% and Frade Japao Limitada, a Japanese partnership led by Inpex, with 18.26%.

Field Development

At a total cost of $2.8 billion, field development on Frade includes subsea production wells individually tied to an FPSO. Produced oil from the field will be offloaded to tankers, while produced gas will be transported via pipeline to an existing pipeline to shore. In order to rein in costs, a number of innovative solutions were applied in the Frade field development plan. Specifically, partners decided to retrofit older equipment for Frade, as well as manipulate the development schedule to take advantage of pricing breaks.

Awarded in August 2004, Alliance Engineering was tapped to perform the FEED work on the field, including planning for project controls, estimating and development scheduling. Teaming with Alliance on the work, Intec Engineering was chosen to provide the hull selection, mooring and conversion plan for the FPSO, as well as planning for subsea facilities and Brazilian compliance oversight.

In November 2005, Transocean's Sedco 706 semisubmersible was tapped to perform development drilling on the field. The $385 million three-year contract (or a $550 million contract, should the two one-year extensions be utilized) included a $300 million renovation project on the 30-year-old rig to upgrade it to be able to work at appropriate Frade water depths. Upgrades performed in Singapore include dynamic positioning station keeping and water-depth drilling capabilities up to 6,500 feet (1,981 meters); and the rig should arrive on the field in mid-2009. Currently, the drillship Noble Leo Segerius is working on the field to make up for lost time.

The subsea development consists of horizontal production wells, as well as vertical water injection wells to maintain reservoir pressure. In a $130 million contract, FMC was chosen to supply 19 enhanced horizontal subsea trees, 22 wellheads, 28 pipeline end manifolds, 20 subsea control modules and other associated equipment. In order to be able to use the Polar Queen for installation, the field's subsea pumps and valves were installed before development drilling ever took place.

Also involved in the subsea development, Wellstream was chosen to manufacture the flexible risers for Frade, and Kongsberg provided the subsea process simulation with multiphase modeling for training, planning and operation. Additionally, DOF Subsea won a three-year contract to supply an ROV vessel for survey and engineering services.

In June 2006, Acergy was awarded the installation contract for the flexible risers, well control umbilicals, pipeline manifold and pipeline on Frade. Measuring 25 miles (41 kilometers) in length, the flexible gas import/export pipeline will connect the FPSO to the Roncador pipeline manifold.

Frade FPSO

The Frade FPSO is being converted from the VLCC Lu San tanker, which in its original incarnation 30 years ago was the Aristotle S. Onassis shipping vessel. To be moored in 3,600 feet (1,097 meters) of water by an internal turret accommodating 33 risers, the vessel weighs in at 236,000 DWT and has a storage capacity of 1.5 million barrels of oil. In April 2006, Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) received an LOI for the conversion and operation of the Frade FPSO. The contract includes the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of processing equipment for the conversion of an existing tanker vessel into the Frade FPSO. A 535-ton (485-tonne) MacGregor Plimsoll winch was installed on the vessel to tension the mooring chains and pull the pipeline risers.

Equipped with both oil and gas processing facilities, the FPSO will have an oil production capacity of 100,000 bopd, gas processing and compression of 106 MMcf/d (3 MMcm/d), gas lift and export of 150 MMcf/d (4 MMcm/d), and water injection of 150,000 bwpd. Lamprell was subcontracted to supply seven topside processing modules, including test and second stage separation modules, main gas compression module, gas/flash gas compression module, and power generation module, as well as the manifold structure for the FPSO.

Production

With a peak annual production rate of 85,000 boepd and 30 MMcf/d (1 MMcm/d) of natural gas expected in 2011, production is scheduled to commence on Frade in 2009. With an estimated field life of 18 years, the field is expected to produce approximately 270 million barrels of oil, and the Brazilian concession ends in 2025.