Exploration/discoveries

Petrobras, ExxonMobil Hit Hydrocarbons at Urissanê Well, Offshore Brazil

The find kicks off Petrobras’ latest drilling campaign, which is focused primarily on offshore blocks holding subsalt potential that the company acquired at a series of bid rounds that started in 2017.

Map of Campos Basin
Petrobras.

Brazilian state-owned Petrobras announced on 29 January it had discovered hydrocarbons in a well located in the Campos Basin presalt off Brazil’s coast of Campos dos Gotyacaze in the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Well 1-BRSA-1377-RJS (informally called Urissanê) is located in Block C-M-411, at a depth of 2950 m approximately 200 km offshore.

Petrobras, which operates the block in a 50/50 partnership with ExxonMobil, said it would analyze the well data to better target exploratory activities and assess the potential of the discovery.

The hydrocarbon discovery was the first of the year offshore Brazil. In 2020, a total of 10 offshore finds were reported to the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), the last of them in December in the Búzios field.

According to data from the ANP, Petrobras began drilling Urissanê on 20 October with Seadrill’s West Tellus drillship, one of the 15 of this type in national waters.

The find kicks off Petrobras’ latest drilling campaign, which is focused primarily on offshore blocks holding subsalt potential that the company acquired at a series of bid rounds that started in 2017.

Petrobras purchased a stake in block C-M-411 for $375 million in the ANP’s 14th bidding round, along with blocks C-M-210, C-M-277, C-M-344, C-M-346, and C-M-413. The blocks are in a group about 200–300 km off the coast of Campos dos Goytacazes in Rio de Janeiro.