Oil & gas drilling adds another hydrocarbon find to Petrobras’ Brazilian arsenal

Brazilian state-owned energy giant Petrobras has made a new hydrocarbon discovery at an exploration well in the pre-salt Campos Basin off the coast of Brazil, South America.

Shortly after confirming hydrocarbons in the 4-BRSA-1395-SPS exploratory well of the Aram block, located 245 kilometers from the city of Santos-SP, at a water depth of 1,759 meters in the Santos Basin pre-salt, Petrobras has disclosed results of another exploratory well – this time in the Campos Basin pre-salt arena.

Weeks before this, the drilling of the 9-BUZ-99D-RJS well in the western region of the Búzios field in the pre-salt Santos Basin allowed the firm to confirm the presence of oil reservoirs within a new accumulation in a zone below the main reservoir.

The company has now revealed the presence of hydrocarbons in the well 1-BRSA-1394-RJS in Norte de Brava block, which is located 105 kilometers from the state of Rio de Janeiro, at a water depth of 575 meters. Petrobras said the drilling of the well was completed and emphasized the importance of the block for exploring the pre-salt potential, particularly in the Campos Basin.

The Norte de Brava block was acquired in December 2022 in a bidding round organized by the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP), under the production sharing regime, with Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA) as the manager. Petrobras is the operator of the block and holds a 100% working interest.

The well is currently undergoing final wireline loggings, according to the Brazilian giant, which underlines that the hydrocarbon-bearing interval has been detected using electrical logs, gas shows, and fluid sampling, which will later be characterized by laboratory analysis.

The company highlights that the consortium will continue the operations to reach the well’s planned final depth and characterize the conditions of the reservoirs found. The data will make it possible to assess the potential and direct the next exploratory activities in the area.

The Brazilian player has earmarked $77.3 billion for its Exploration and Production (E&P) segment over the next five years, with about 60% allocated to pre-salt assets and carrying out major revitalization projects (REVITs).

Petrobras is also busy with hydrocarbon exploration activities outside Brazil, as illustrated by the insight it provided into a drill stem test (DST) conducted for a well situated 31 kilometers off Colombia’s coast, at a water depth of 804 meters.

Recently, the firm hired Baker Hughes to supply fully integrated completions for multiple offshore fields with solutions supporting remote operations in deepwater fields and allowing real-time response to the evolving well conditions across multiple zones.