Petrobras has started drilling a wildcat well in the Aram block of the pre-salt of the Santos Basin using Constellation drillship Brava Star, according to the National Petroleum Agency (ANP).
The Aram block is operated by Petrobras (80%) in partnership with CNODC, a unit of China National Petroleum Corp. (20%). The two companies purchased the area in the only bid of the 6th Pre-Salt Round in 2019. They paid $1.24 billion in signature bonuses and the minimum allowed profit oil of 29.96%.
Drilling at Aram began on 24 August. With the new Petrobras well, Brazil returned to record levels in exploratory activity seen only in the pre-pandemic period. In all, five wells were drilled in the country during August—the highest number in a single month since May 2019.