Petrobras confirms existence of 5 bln barrels of oil in Santos Basin

Petrobras has completed drilling the last exploratory well under the Rights Transfer agreement in the Santos Basin pre-salt.

Well 4-BRSA1226-RJS (4-RJS-728), the third drilled in the Entorno de Iara block, has confirmed the discovery of good quality oil in the pre-salt reservoirs.

Known as Entorno de Iara 3, the well is located at a water depth of 2,244 meters some 241 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.

The well confirmed the discovery of good quality oil (27º API) in carbonate reservoirs below the salt layer, starting at a depth of 5,548 meters down to a total depth of 5,875 meters.

With the completion of this well, Petrobras has satisfied the exploratory drilling requirements stipulated in the Mandatory Exploratory Plan. Sixteen exploratory wells were drilled over the six areas under the Rights Transfer agreement, with a 100% success rate.

Data obtained so far have confirmed the existence 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), in line with the volume contracted by Petrobras with the Brazilian Federal Government.

Rights Transfer Agreement

By the end of last year, Petrobras had already declared commerciality for part of the volume contracted in the Franco area (now the Búzios field) of 3.058 billion boe and the Tupi Sul area (now the Sul de Lula field) of 128 million boe.

The remaining volumes required to make up the total of 5 billion boe are located in Rights Transfer areas whose commerciality declarations are scheduled to be submitted to Brazil’s National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency by the end of 2014.

Submission of the declarations of commerciality initiates the formal process of reviewing the Rights Transfer agreement on a block-by-block basis, taking into account the technical and economic assumptions for each area. The review process is already under way on the Franco (Búzios field) and Sul de Tupi (Sul de Lula Field) blocks.