Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 08 2021

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It came on stream in May 2018, about two years bpd on average in 2021.
later than expected. The company has not yet restarted the other
The EPS has suffered a number of mishaps two wells that make up the EPS but anticipates
within the last year. In mid-2020, Enauta noticed doing by summer. Its work schedule calls for the
problems within the FPSO’s water-processing 7-ATL-3H-RJS well to resume operations by
system, which was only capable of handling the end of March, with initial production rates
6,000 bpd. In response, it had to bring oil pro- reaching 10,000 bpd. Meanwhile, 7-ATL-2HP-
duction levels down in August and September. RJS is slated to restart production by mid-year.
Then in November, 7-ATL-4HB-RJS was shut Atlanta lies in the shallow-water section
down for repairs, partly because its oil heaters of the Santos Basin off Brazil’s south-eastern
were malfunctioning and partly because of cor- coast, and it is believed to hold around 1.3bn
rosion on subsea equipment. The well did not barrels of oil in place (OIP). Enauta has said it
come back online until January 26. Only a few wants to expand the field’s production system
days later, Enauta suspended production again by drilling 12 more wells and attaching them to
because the well’s newly installed equipment another FPSO capable of handling 50,000 bpd
was not performing adequately. of oil. These plans have been complicated by the
As in January, 7-ATL-4HB-RJS is still the fact that the company’s former partner – Barra
only functioning development well at Atlanta. Energia, another Brazilian independent – quit
Enauta has said it expects the well to yield 14,000 the project last year. ™

PERU
PetroTal sets 2021 capex budget at $100mn

CANADA’S PetroTal said last week that it had
set a budget of $100mn for its capital expendi-
ture budget in 2021.
In a statement, the company explained that it
intended to finance the capex programme with
the proceeds of its recently announced $100mn
bond issue, “supplemented with funds generated
from operations and existing cash resources.”
Expenditures will be focused on drilling projects
that can help the company achieve its produc-
tion targets, the statement said.
PetroTal will be carrying out the 2021 capex
programme over a period of 10 months, starting
in March and ending in December. The com-
pany expects average production rates to rise
significantly over that period, ending the fourth
quarter at 18,000-19,000 barrels per day (bpd)
of oil, or about twice the level recorded in the
first quarter. It also sees crude output averaging
11,000-12,000 bpd over the full year.
PetroTal is on track to spud five new develop-
ment wells at Block 95, which includes the com-
pany’s flagship Bretaña oilfield in Peru, in 2021.
Four of these will be horizontal wells, for which
the cost of drilling will be $12-14mn each, and Bretaña is a field within Block 95 (Image: PetroTal)
one will be a deviated production well, which
will carry a price tag of $7mn. The deviated well 20,000 bpd, and the other well will increase
will begin production this year, along with three water disposal capacity by 50,000 bpd.
of the horizontal wells, while the last horizontal PetroTal will also spend $12mn on the con-
well will not be finished until February 2022. struction of the second phase of its Central
This means that drilling will absorb more Processing Facility (CPF). This project will be
than half of the company’s capex budget for completed in the third quarter of this year, in
2021. The cost of drilling development wells is time to bring oil yields up to the projected aver-
set to reach $55-59mn, and PetroTal also intends age of 16,000-17,000 bpd in the fourth quarter
to spend $9mn on the drilling of a second water of 2021. It will raise the facility’s fluid handling
disposal well. The new development wells will capacity to 124,000 bpd, a level high enough to
push Block 95’s production capacity above support oil production levels of 24,000 bpd.

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