Abstract
Albacora, a giant field located under water depths ranging from .230 m to 1,900 m, in Campos Basin, offshore Brazil, has an estimated oil-in-place volume of 4.4 billion bbl and extends over an area of 235 km2. This paper presents a development plan conceived for this field comprising several production units installed at water depths ranging from 300 m to 1,400 m to process a peak production of 208,000 bopd from 188 completed wells. As a first step of field devolopment, a shuttle tanker, converted for process and moored at 230 m water depth, started field production in October, 1987 to collect up to 14 subsea completed wells in water depths that may reach 953 m. This cost-effective pilot system aims at collecting data on reservoir recovery mechanisms and at evaluating technology and performance of floating production systems and subsea completion equipment, which will subsidize the global exploitation plan of the field.
