Petrobras and its partners have made an oil discovery in the north-west of the Sépia oil field, offshore Brazil through the drilling of the 4-BRSA-1386D-RJS (Pedunculo) well.
The oil discovery is located nearly 250km off the Rio de Janeiro coast.
The well, which was spudded in late July 2022, was drilled at a water depth of around 2,200m.
According to Petrobras, the oil-bearing interval of the discovery was verified using electrical logs and fluid samples, which will be characterised further by laboratory analyses.
Petrobras claimed that the net oil column in the discovery made by the Pedunculo well is one of the thickest ever seen in Brazil.
The Brazilian national oil company and its partners are expected to continue operations for characterising the conditions of the reservoirs found and confirm the extent of the oil discovery.
The oil discovery is located inside the Sépia Coparticipated Area, which covers the Sépia Transfer of Rights (ToR) contract in which Petrobras has 100% and the Sepia ToR Surplus Production Sharing Contract.
Petrobras (30%), TotalEnergies (28%), Petronas (21%), and QatarEnergy (21%) were awarded the Sepia ToR Surplus Production Sharing Contract in December 2021 with Pre-Sal Petróleo (PPSA) as manager.
The operator of the Sépia Coparticipated Area is Petrobras with a 51.9% stake. TotalEnergies has a 19.2% stake, while QatarEnergy, and Petronas hold stakes of 14.4% each.
Presently, the Sépia shared reservoir is producing 170,000 barrels of oil per day.
TotalEnergies exploration and production Americas senior vice president David Mendelson said: “This is excellent news, just a few months after concluding our entry into the world-class Sépia field in Brazil, where we are already benefitting from the production performance from the first FPSO.
“The resources confirmed by the Pedunculo well appear to exceed pre-drill expectations and add to the potential for future development of the area. Thanks to their exceptional productivity and the innovative technologies used in their developments, these resources fully fit in TotalEnergies’ low-cost, low-emission oil portfolio.”
