The oil discovery in the Uirapuru block was made in porous reservoirs in the exploratory prospect informally called Araucária
Petrobras reports oil discovery in offshore Uirapuru block. (Credit: D Thory from Pixabay)
Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) has reported a new oil discovery in the Uirapuru block in the Santos Basin pre-salt offshore Brazil following the drilling of a pioneer well.
The Brazilian national oil company said that the pioneer well was drilled at a water depth of 1,995m, nearly 200km off the coast of the city of Santos in São Paulo.
The company said that the oil discovery was made in porous reservoirs in the exploratory prospect informally known as Araucária.
Petrobras started drilling of the Uirapuru well in November 2019 using the Seadrill drillship West Tellus. The drilling campaign targeted carbonate reservoirs at final depths of nearly 5900m.
Petrobras, which is the operator of the Uirapuru block with 30% stake, plans to analyse the well data to better target the exploratory activities in the region and also for assessing the potential of the oil discovery.
Brief details of the Uirapuru block
The Uirapuru concession was acquired in the 4th Production Sharing Round in June 2018 under a production sharing regime with Pré-sal Petróleo (PPSA) as manager.
Petrobras is partnered in the Santos Basin block by ExxonMobil (28%), Equinor (28%), and Petrogal (14%), a subsidiary of Galp.
The Uirapuru block spans across 1,285 km2 in the pre-salt polygon in the Santos basin, 175 km from shore, at water depths in the range of 800-2,100m. The concession is located immediately to the north of the Carcara pre-salt development, which is operated by Equinor.
Earlier this week, Petrobras said that it will implement new actions to strengthen its group’s resilience amid the falling demand of oil and oil products. For this, the Brazilian oil major will reduce its oil production by 200,000 barrels per day, postpone cash disbursement and reduce its costs among other measures.