Petrobras reports on innovations and efficiency gains related to the Libra Field.

The intense collaboration between Libra area partners in the pursuit of the technologies necessary to maximize the value of the project has already allowed to reduce the break-even price of the venture by approximately US$ 13/barrel.

The actions mapped out by the Libra Consortium to reduce the break-even price are focused on cost optimization and increased recovery factor of the block’s deposits. These actions are part of the "Libra@35” project, which seeks to achieve a break-even price of US$ 35/barrel.

Among the initiatives already completed is the reduction by 460 days in the appraisal phase, which represented earnings of US$ 360 million. The result was possible thanks to optimization in information acquisition during the exploration and appraisal phase.

Another initiative was the use of a simplified design for intelligent completion - a technique to track the performance of remotely-controlled wells - with gains of 7 to 18 days in this activity. In addition, the use of WAG loop, an innovative concept that allows to connect two water/gas injector wells in a loop, enabled the reduced use of flexible lines, with savings of US$ 300 million.

Finally, the consortium plans to have supplying companies in the Libra 4 project involved from the project design phase, to reduce the investment in equipment and installation of subsea systems by 30%. Projected savings from this initiative are in the order of US$ 400 million.

The Libra consortium is composed by Petrobras (operator with 40%), Shell (20%), Total (20%), CNPC (10%) and CNOOC (10%) whereas Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA) is the manager of the Production Sharing Contract.