Posted by TotalEnergies started the drilling of their new wildcat – 1-TOT-2-RJS – on the last day of 2021. The Marolo prospect is located on block C-M-541, acquired in the 16th Bid Round (2019) with QatarEnergy and PETRONAS as partners. This well has one of the deepest water depths ever drilled in Brazil, around 3000 meters.
Petrobras started their 2022 offshore exploration with a new well on Alto do Cabo Frio Central, owned in partnership with bp. Drilling operations for the well 1-BRSA-1383-RJS started on January 12th, at a water depth of around 1850 meters.
After a little over 3 months of drilling, Petrobras also reported gas shows on their Três Marias wildcat (1-BRSA-1382D-RJS). This area is adjacent to Jupiter, where previous discoveries exposed challenges related to the high occurrence of CO2. Três Marias was acquired on the 4th Production Sharing Bid Round (2018) by Petrobras, Chevron, and Shell.
Regarding wells which are not yet fully confirmed as they are not on ANP’s official database, we can see 2 drilling vessels around areas with licensing processes from ExxonMobil and Shell.
ExxonMobil’s long-awaited Sergipe-Alagoas campaign seems to be underway, as the vessel West Saturn is already positioned to drill the blocks owned in consortium with Enauta and Murphy Oil Corporation. Water depths should also surpass 3000 meters, according to bathymetry data. It is worth noticing the fields declared commercial by Petrobras recently on nearby blocks.
The other one, West Tellus, is positioned in the 15th Bid Round (2018) block C-M-791, operated by Shell in partnership with Chevron and Galp. If confirmed, this would be Shell’s first well since 2020, when they drilled on Saturno.