Map of Muriú prospectPetrobras makes 4th find off Sergipe-Alagoas Petrobras has made a fourth oil discovery in the ultra-deepwater Sergipe-Alagoas basin offshore Brazil, the company announced on 5 December 2012.Tests confirmed the presence of light oil in the Calumbi formation鈥
Brazil鈥檚 oil & gas potential continues to grab the industry headlines, with Petrobras confirming more than a score of offshore discoveries, most of them deepwater, in the last 18 months alone. Newcomer OGX confirmed a number of discoveries too鈥
Floating systems consultant Peter Lovie offers his personal take on the debt crisis facing round FPSO pioneer Sevan and the unexpected challenges encountered by the US Gulf of Mexico's first FPSO .Sevan brought the first round FPSOs into operation鈥
Customized bits enabled Petrobras to successfully drill hard carbonates of pre-salt reservoirs and hard and interbedded post-salt formations of two different offshore wells, while at the same time lowering vibrations, increasing rates of penetration鈥
One portion of the Golden Triangle 鈥 the Gulf of Mexico 鈥 has slipped a notch in its dominance of the global deepwater play while activities in the other two corners 鈥 West Africa and Brazil 鈥 amped up. In addition, a new region has joined the report this year鈥
The focus on Latin American deepwater activity naturally gravitates to the headline-grabbing pre-salt region offshore Brazil. But other areas in Latin American deep waters are worth noting, as Jennifer Pallanich explains.Petrobras' discovery鈥
The name Petrobras these days invokes thoughts of large, pre-salt discoveries, for good reason. Since announcing the Tupi pre-salt find in 2006, the Brazilian operator has made giant strides in developing and refining the technology needed to find and produce the oil hiding beneath the salt layer鈥
The pre-salt Tupi field may claim most of the interest when it comes to oil activity offshore Brazil, but plenty is going on along the large country's coastline. In the last two months, Petrobras has brought online two fields, updated its files鈥
Since Petrobras and its partners reported finding the large Tupi field in 2006, excitement has reigned over Brazil's pre-salt reserves. Opportunities exist, even in a changing regulatory environment: the Brazilian congress is poised to consider鈥
Brazilian operator Petrobras expects to initiate production from a new reservoir to existing facilities in Modules 1 and 2 of its deepwater Marlim Sul field this summer and bring a third module onstream via the P-56 semi early next year. Asset鈥
While operating in Brazil鈥檚 pre-salt region does require an array of technologies, Petrobras CEO Jose Gabrielli told a Houston lunch that a bigger challenge lies in meeting logistical demands for operating in deep waters offshore. During the Brazil-Texas Chamber of Commerce event in March鈥
