Statoil to Raise Oil Production at Brazil Peregrino Field

Norwegian state-owned oil company Statoil (STO) expects to restore oil production at its Peregrino offshore field in Brazil to around 95,000 barrels per day in the coming months, an executive said on Tuesday.

The field, situated in the Campos Basin off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, is currently producing between 80,000 and 85,000 bpd as pumps are replaced on certain wells.

"I have some production wells out of action because we have to replace the electric submersible pumps which have a design life of two to three years," Mauro Andrade, vice-president of public relations for Statoil's Brazil unit, said at a conference in Rio de Janeiro.

Andrade added that the field, which is owned 60-40 with Chinese junior partner Sinochem, had hit production peaks of 100,000 bpd.

Statoil is looking to halt production decline from the field by installing a new platform, for which the early stage engineering work should be done by the end of the year or first quarter of 2015. It will then be possible to specify the investment needed for the project.

This second phase of development should bring production for the field up to 150,000 bpd.

"If all goes well, first oil (from the new phase) is expected for 2019," Andrade said.

(Reporting by Marta Nogueira and Rodrigo Viga Gaier; writing by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)