For years after its discovery in 1986, the Frade deepwater field offshore Brazil was considered too technically risky to develop. The field holds medium-heavy oil in shallow reservoirs requiring long horizontal wells. Today, Chevron and its partners have overcome the challenges and are advancing the multibillion-dollar development toward first oil in 2009. By 2011, Frade is expected to reach peak production of 90,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day.