By Agency Reporter, Published: Thursday, 3 Dec 2009
Brazil’s National Petroluem Agency has approved drilling by state-run energy giant, Petrobras, in a deepwater area currently under government control, the company said on Wednesday in a regulatory filing.
In the filing, Petrobras said the ANP had authorised exploration drilling in a contiguous area near the Iara prospect in the Santos Basin. The drilling will be done in areas outside the boundaries of the BM-S-11 block that contains the Lara and Tupi oil finds.
The area could become part of the oil reserves that would be transferred to Petrobras as part of the government’s complex capitalisation plan for the company, Petrobras said.
Brazil’s government plans to cede rights to explore and produce five billion barrels of oil in the subsalt region to Petrobras. Petrobras will pay fair-market value for the oil with a share offering.
“The drilling’s objective is to obtain information about the region, which still needs more detailed geologic evaluation,” Petrobras said.
The company said its SS-53 drilling platform would be moved into the area and drill to depths of 6,425 metres in search of oil reserves.
The area is part of Brazil’s so-called subsalt oil province. The subsalt finds were made under a thick layer of salt in the Santos Basin off the coast of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states. The oil lies under more than 2,000 meters of water and a further 5,000 metres under sand, rock and a shifting layer of salt.
The Iara discovery, estimated to hold recoverable reserves of between three billion and four billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Source: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200912031331682
Comments
Post a Comment