Equinor Begins Drilling At Raia, Its Largest International Project Ever

Equinor has begun drilling on its largest international project ever, the $9 billion Raia development off the coast of Rio de Janiero. The gas field complex contains at least one billion barrels of oil equivalent, and should be able to supply about 15 percent of Brazil's daily demand for natural gas.

Raia sits in the prolific Campos Basin region, and includes three gas discoveries in the pre-salt layer (so-called for its location, trapped underneath a thick salt crust in ancient deposits below the seabed). The quality of the gas reserve is good enough that Equinor plans to process it offshore and pipe it directly to Brazil's gas transmission system, with no further onshore processing required. Gas is the main product, but the Raia FPSO also has storage and offloading capacity for the project's associated oil.

Drilling got under way on March 24 aboard the Valaris drillship DS-17. The campaign encompasses six wells in 2,900 meters of water depth.

Construction of the FPSO for the project is well under way, led by MODEC, which holds the EPCI contract and will operate the installation for the first year in service. The project has a high degree of local content: the FPSO is being built at the Seatrium shipyard at Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janiero, and the pipe for the export pipeline is almost all Brazilian-made.

Raia is co-owned by Equinor (as operator); a Repsol/Sinopec joint venture; and Petrobras. It is on track to start up in 2028.