BRAZIL: Brazil oil production bounces back as deepwater search broadens
George Hawrylyshyn
In the past 30 months, since the opening of the oil sector here, five wells have been drilled in these regions. Three were drilled by El Paso in BPAR-10, and two by British Petroleum in BFZ-1, in the mouth of the Amazon.
At the moment, another four wells are being drilled: two in Parana (El Paso), one in Pelotas (Petrobras), and another is still being drilled in Foz (BP). Investment and increased frontier exploratory activity have yet to be rewarded by strong results. The first well drilled by BP was dry, and those sunk by El Paso presented some traces of gas in the presence of water. Three more wells are scheduled to be drilled by Exxon this month - two in Parana and one in Foz - as the American company returns after many years to explore again in Brazil.
Even before the risk contracts in 1974-1988, Petrobras had been probing these frontier basins, but there have only been two discoveries, both by Petrobras: (1) onshore Barra Bonita, in Parana in 1996, and (2) offshore Pirapema, in Foz do Amazonas in 1975, in about 135 meters water depth. Neither of the wells was considered commercial.
Northernmost: Amazonas
In the Foz do Amazonas, a basin that extends for 268,000 sq km off the coast of the northern states of Para and Amapa, the first exploration work began in the 1970s when Petrobras drilled well 1-APS-1. At the time, explor-atory activity in the region was at a peak, with up to four rigs simultaneously in action. Since then, Petrobras has drilled 71 wells, mostly in shallow water, and has invested about $1 billion.
Nine foreign companies were also attracted to the area during the risk contract period: Shell, Elf, Total, His-panoil, Exxon, Citgo, Mara-thon, Pecten, and Conoco. They drilled a total of 21 wells and acquired nearly 45,000 km of 2D seismic data. But again there were no discoveries.
Exploring the Foz is costly and complicated. The two deepwater wells BP has planned will cost up to $40 million each. The operators will have to cope with strong currents (6 knots), abnormal reservoir pressure, and great distances to the supply bases (more than 500 km).
Petrobras sources said that of some 90 wells drilled in the Foz up to now (71 by Petrobras; 19 by foreign companies), 30 had to be abandoned, mostly because of problems with high pressure and or tool loss.
Exploration in the Foz is at the stage of examining the "source rocks," but BP and its partners on this project - Exxon, Petrobras, Shell, Agip, TotalFinaElf - think the multimillion-dollar investment is worth it. The drillship Glomar C.R. Luigs was contracted to drill the two BP wells.
Southernmost: Pelotas
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Volume 61 Issue 7
July 2001
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