The first cargo has been successfully offloaded from what is expected to be Chevron's largest investment in Brazil: the offshore Papa-Terra heavy oil development in the Campos Basin, the company said in its press release.
The Brasil Voyager, a tanker owned and operated by Chevron, was built with specific features for offloading oil from Papa-Terra.
"The first offloading at Papa-Terra represents an important milestone for the company, reinforces the progress being made by the project and highlights the success of the partnership between Chevron and Petrobras," said Les Wood, a manager with Chevron Brazil.
On May 9, the Brasil Voyager, a tanker built specifically for the operation, lifted approximately 740,000 barrels of oil from Papa-Terra's floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The oil came from the first two production wells in the field.
"This is a significant milestone for the Papa-Terra project," said Kelly Hartshorn, managing director of Chevron’s Latin America business unit.
"This project will make a positive impact on Chevron's future growth target, and I am proud of the Chevron Brazil team for their efforts to get us to this successful point in the field's development."
The Brasil Voyager is expected to offload around 950,000 barrels of crude from Papa-Terra every 40 days.
"The Brasil Voyager is now bringing cargo to the market, including providing supply to the Pascagoula Refinery, and we look forward to its return to the Papa-Terra Field for the next Chevron shipment," Wood said.
On May 12, production began from a third well at Papa-Terra. Two additional wells are expected to start producing to the FPSO in 2014.
The Papa-Terra Field lies in approximately 3,900 feet (1,189 m) of water. The project includes the FPSO as well Brazil's first tension-leg well platform (TLWP), which was installed in the field in April. Heavier-oil production wells will lead to the platform while lighter-oil production wells will tie back to the FPSO. First oil from the TLWP is expected later this year.
The project has a planned daily capacity of 140,000 barrels of crude oil and 35 million cubic feet of natural gas.