Offshore staff
(Brazil)-Shell must decide this year whether to announce commercial feasibility or hand back to Brazilian authorities the BS-4 offshore block in the Santos basin where it is operator, the company's Brazilian operations E&P VP John Haney said during the Latin Upstream seminar in Rio de Janeiro.
Shell and partners Petrobras and Chevron have been exploring the block since 1998, when Brazil's oil sector was opened up to private investment. The block is located in water depths of 1,500 m and estimated to contain total reserves of 1.6 MMbbl of 14° API heavy crude, Haney said.
Shell has a 40% interest in the block, Petrobras has 40% and Chevron the remaining 20%.
"We consider this a frontier block," he said. "We want to improve recovery levels there."
In addition to BS-4, Shell also has interests in the BC-10 block in the Campos basin and in 11 exploratory blocks in Brazil.
The company plans to continue development of the BC-10 block, which it operates with a 35% stake. Its partners there are Petrobras with 35% and Exxon Mobil with 30%.
"We should file the development plans for the block at the hydrocarbons regulator by the end of the first half," Haney said. The company expects to recover as much as 400 MMbbl of heavy crude there by 2010.
At the same time, Shell should drill new appraisal wells this year in the existing productive fields of Bijupira and Salema, where the company is producing some 35,000-40,000 b/d of oil.
In 2005, Shell invested $200 million in its Brazilian operations, of which $150 million went into E&P. Haney declined to say how much the company would invest in Brazil this year.
04/03/2006
