An oil discovery has been confirmed in the Libra field, offshore Brazil, Petrobras announced on 27 October.
The Brazilian state-owned firm said the well 3-RJS-731 (informally known as NW-1) confirmed the discovery of good quality oil in the northwestern portion of the structure. Petrobras said the discovery was observed through fluid profiles and samples.
Drilling began back in August using the Schahin Cerrado drillship. The NW-1 well is the first of two wells the Libra consortium has committed to drilling. NW-1 is 170km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in the pre-salt Santos Basin. The well is also approximately 4km southeast of discovery well 2-ANP-2A RJS. Petrobras plans to continue drilling the well from its current depth of 5326m down to 5850m final depth.
Once drilling is completed, Petrobras says it plans to verify the discovery’s extension, and characterize the reservoir’s conditions.
Petrobras operates Libra with 40% interest. Its consortium partners are Shell (20%), Total (20%), CNPC (10%) and CNOOC Ltd. (10%), with the management of the contract to Pre-Sal Petroleo SA (PPSA).
Earlier this month, Petrobras announced that a 50:50 joint venture between Odebrecht and Teekay will provide an FPSO for an extended well test campaign in the Libra area. The proposed FPSO, which will be operated by the JV partners, will have a processing capacity of 50,000bo/d and a capacity of 4MMcm/d for gas injection.
Image: Cerrado drillship from Schahin
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