Brazilian Petrobras Will Invest About $300 Million in Drilling Two Exploration Wells
Brazilian state oil company Petrobras plans to invest about $300 million to drill two exploration wells in the deep waters of the Potiguar Basin after environmental licenses were issued last week.
The license, awarded by environmental agency Ibama on Friday, is Petrobras’ first since 2013 to drill in the so-called equatorial margin, a vast area of northern Brazil that is seen as the next big frontier for oil and gas exploration.
The first well, named Pitu Oeste, will be drilled 52 km (32.3 miles) offshore in block BM-POT-17. The second well, called Anhanga, will be drilled nearby on the coast of Rio Grande do Norte state. Drilling is scheduled to begin between October and November this year.
The estimated investment is based on an average and will depend on the actual duration of the drilling study, which is expected to take four to five months.
The company plans to obtain more geological information about the Potiguar Basin to assess the economic feasibility and scale of the oil discovery made in 2013 in the Pitu well.
