Australian oil and gas company Karoon has reached the Final Investment Decision to proceed with the development of the Patola field, offshore Brazil.

The Patola field is located within the 100% Karoon-owned and operated BM-S-40 Production Licence in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, and is adjacent to the producing Baúna and Piracaba accumulations. 

Patola will be tied back to the existing Baúna Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, Cidade de Itajaí.

The development comprises two near-vertical subsea production wells, which will be drilled and completed using the recently contracted Maersk Developer rig immediately following the completion of the four-well Baúna intervention program. 

Oilfield services giant TechnipFMC is responsible for the design, manufacture and installation of subsea infrastructure, including christmas trees, flowlines, risers, umbilical, controls. 

The Patola development budget is US$175 – 195 million, of which approximately US$17 million has already been invested to ensure that long lead items are available to meet the project timeline, Karoon said.

Patola is expected to produce at an initial rate of more than 10,000 bopd from high-quality reservoirs of the same geological age as those in the adjacent Baúna and Piracaba fields. First oil production is targeted for the first quarter of the calendar year 2023. 

Karoon Energy’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Dr Julian Fowles, said that together with the Baúna intervention program, Patola is expected to add materially to the company's production base, with total output forecast to reach approximately 30,000 bopd in early 2023, more than double current production rates. 

 He said that the decision on the Patola Project brings Karoon's capital expenditure commitments in Brazil to nearly US$1 billion.  

Credit: Karoon