Posted by SW Duchess, seismic vessel from Shearwater, in collaboration with its joint-venture partner Searcher Seismic, started the acquisition of the Pelotas Basin 3D program. The survey has an initial planned acquisition area of 3,800 km² and is located on the southern deepwater portion of the basin, covering 10 exploration blocks 5 of which are fully owned by Chevron, while the rest are operated by Petrobras with Shell and CNOOC as partners.
In other news, WesternGeco has requested a license for a new 3D seismic project also in Pelotas. This survey is limited to deepwaters, covering the northern and central portions of the basin. According to the project’s schedule, activities will be conducted in two phases (Pelotas 3D North and Pelotas 3D Central) and are scheduled to begin on Q1 2026, lasting for 996 days. The acquisition area totals 101,589 km², comprising 9 blocks fully acquired by Chevron and another 2 blocks operated by Shell, in consortium with Ecopetrol.
Pelotas, in its central part, doesn’t include any active assets nor blocks on Open Acreage, but several blocks are under study in this region and could be included in future open acreage cycles. In the last bid round, on the 4th Cycle of Open Acreage, 44 blocks were acquired in the basin, which currently gained more interest as one of Brazil’s new frontiers, leading to more investments on the region. This interest is based on the correlation of the offshore sedimentary basins of Brazil and Namibia (Orange basin), which may have had similar development processes as a result of the breakup of the Gondwana paleocontinent.