PRIO Secures Drilling Permit for Ops at Wahoo Field

(Credit: PRIO)

Brazilian oil and gas firm PRIO, formerly PetroRio, has secured a drilling license from the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) for the Wahoo field in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil’s state Espírito Santo.

PRIO said it preparing to mobilize the Hunter Queen rig for the drilling campaign that includes six wells -  four production wells and two injection wells.

The sixth-generation semisubmersible drilling rig, Hunter Queen – which has been part of PRIO’s assets since July 2022, has the capacity to drill in water depths of up to 3,000 meters and wells of up to 10,000 m, and can perform maintenance operations and improvements that are necessary at all of the company’s offshore fields.

The Wahoo field is the first fully developed field by PRIO. Production will be made possible by a subsea tieback of approximately 30 km in length, connecting Wahoo to the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Frade, which has a processing capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

Acquired in March 2021, the field was declared commercially viable in December of the same year, after feasibility studies. Although there are already exploratory wells that prove the presence of oil, the previous operator did not develop the infrastructure necessary for production, according to PRIO.

The next stage of the project is the evaluation of the Environmental Impact Study – crucial for issuing the preliminary license and the license to install the subsea infrastructure that will enable production.

“Wahoo is our priority and a project we have been preparing for a long time. In addition to increasing our production by up to 40,000 barrels per day, its operation will boost the economy with jobs and, in the future, with the generation of more than $686 million in royalties for Espírito Santo and the Union over its lifetime,” said Roberto Monteiro, CEO of PRIO.

“While we take the next steps regarding licensing, we continue to make adjustments to the Frade FPSO to accommodate the new production.

“The interconnection with the FPSO Frade is crucial for the success of the project, because without this structure, Wahoo would be economically unviable”, added Francilmar Fernandes, PRIO’s Operations Director