Bacalhau field (formerly Carcara)

Development partners: Operator Equinor (40%) , ExxonMobil (40%), PetrogalBrasil (20%)
Project type: Ultra-deepwater oil field development
Water depth: 2050 m

The offshore oil field was discovered by Petrobas in 2012 while Equinor became the operator by acquiring stakes from Petrobas in 2016.

Key engineering contracts for the Bacalhau field development were awarded in January 2020. The final investment decision (FID) for the project is expected to be taken in late 2020, while the 1st oil is anticipated between 2023 and 2024.

The field contains high-quality crude oil with low sulphur content and API gravity of approximately 31o. The field is expected to produce up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in phase one with the 1st oil expected by 2024.

The Bacalhau deepwater field development plan involves 19 production wells connected to a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit. It will be one of the biggest FPSOs in Brazil, with 220,000 bopd of production and 2 million barrels of storage capacity.

MODEC was contracted for the design and construction of the FPSO vessel in January 2020. The company secured the contract after successful execution of the pre-front end engineering design (Pre-FEED) contract received in December 2018. The mooring system for the FPSO will be supplied by SOFEC, a subsidiary of MODEC Group.

Aibel signed a letter of intent (LOI) with MODEC for the FEED phase of the vessel covering management and basic engineering services. The LOI includes an option for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the topside modules for the FPSO.

Equinor contracted Subsea Integration Alliance, a strategic alliance between Subsea 7 and Schlumberger’s OneSubsea division, to conduct FEED study on the Bacalhau field.