Baleia Azul

Location

The Baleia Azul Oil and Gas Field is located in the northern part of the Campos Basin, offshore Espírito Santo, Brazil. Specifically, it is situated in block BC-60, at water depths ranging from 1,260 meters to 1,426 meters.

Operator and Ownership

The field is operated and owned by Petrobras, the Brazilian state-controlled oil company, with a 100% stake.

Discovery and Production

• The Baleia Azul field was discovered in 2006.
• Commercial-scale production began in 2012, with the field connected to the FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) unit Cidade de Anchieta.

Reserves and Production

• The field holds significant reserves, with approximately 987.5 million barrels of oil in place and 7,493 million cubic meters of gas in place.
• The annual oil production from the Baleia Azul field is around 7.3 million barrels per year, as of the data from 2012.
• The aggregate production from the Parque das Baleias complex, which includes Baleia Azul, is estimated at 222,000 barrels of oil and six million cubic meters of gas per day.

Infrastructure

• The field is part of a larger complex that includes four FPSO units: Cidade de Anchieta, Capixaba, P-57, and P-58. The FPSO Cidade de Anchieta, which serves the Baleia Azul field among others, has the capacity to process 100,000 barrels of oil and 3.5 million cubic meters of gas per day.
• The field is connected to a network of producing and injector wells, with the Parque das Baleias complex operating a total of 44 producing wells and 21 injector wells.

Geology

• The field is characterized by both pre-salt and post-salt reservoirs, with the oil and gas trapped under a layer of up to 700 meters of salt at depths of 1,348-1,426 meters from the water line.

Development and Expansion

• In April 2020, an agreement was signed to unify several fields, including Baleia Azul, into the New Jubarte field. This unification extended the production phase of the New Jubarte Field by an additional 27 years until 2056. As part of this development, Petrobras plans to install a fifth FPSO unit in the Parque das Baleias area.

Significance

• The Parque das Baleias complex, including the Baleia Azul field, holds an estimated 1.5 to 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in recoverable reserves, making it a significant contributor to Brazil's oil and gas production.