Chevron undertaking cementing operations to stop well seepage

Chevron Corporation has confirmed that cementing operations are now taking place as part of its well plugging activities on an appraisal well located in the vicinity of the Frade field offshore Brazil.

The company has also stated that there has never been any oil flow from the wellhead and current monitoring indicates oil from nearby seep lines on the ocean floor have reduced to infrequent droplets. All development well drilling in the field continues to be suspended.

Chevron has continued to monitor the oil sheen which has substantially dissipated. Current estimates place the volume of the oil sheen on the ocean surface to be less than 65 barrels. The sheen is located about 120 km offshore and continues to move in a south-easterly direction away from the Brazilian coast.

The company has been scheduling a fleet of up to 18 vessels on a rotational basis, weather permitting, to control and monitor the sheen.

Full production activities have been maintained at Frade throughout the seep incident. Production operations have been monitored continuously to ensure those facilities are not contributing to the oil sheen. Daily production volumes are approximately 79,000 barrels of oil equivalent.

The appraisal well was drilled in the vicinity of the Chevron operated Frade project located 370 km (230 miles) offshore north east of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in water depths of approximately 1200 m (3800 ft).

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