Equinor SA and Exxon Mobil Corp announced that they have taken the first steps to expand thier oil development in Brazil with costs $8 billion, Equinor told Reuters.

The two companies want to boost future production from the Bacalhau oil field which is Equinor’s largest project outside of Norway with more than 1 billion barrels of oil, the company said.

The next phase will include the second drilling rig and a second floating production platform with a more than 100-mile-long gas pipeline, three people close to the discussions said.

For Exxon, Bacalhau would provide its first barrel of oil from offshore Brazil in 2024 from the venture’s 220,000 barrel per day (bpd) production vessel.

Equinor plans to drill a new appraisal well in the north of the Bacalhau field next year “to better understand the reserves base for the Phase 2 development.”

Currently, the two parties are assessing awarding a contract for a second drilling rig. It should be noted that the pre-drilling of phase 1 wells should start in the Q3 of 2022, a spokesperson said.