Equinor ASA has secured new exploration acreage offshore Brazil in the Santos Basin, awarded under the country’s fifth Open Permanent Concession bidding.
The S-M-1617 license is near an existing Equinor block, S-M-1378, “an area with strong potential that we can leverage to reinforce our position in the Santos basin”, Veronica Coelho, Equinor senior vice president and Brazil manager, said in an online statement. “This award provides us with longevity options for Brazil and demonstrates our continuous commitment and appetite to grow in the country”.
“Equinor will now work to conduct necessary geological and geophysical assessments for future exploration activities”, the Norwegian majority state-owned energy major said.
S-M-1617 is 400 kilometers (248.55 miles) off the coast in waters around 2,600 meters (8,530.18) deep, according to Equinor.
Equinor is the sole owner. It said it had paid the government a signature bonus of around BRL 30.5 million ($5.55 million).
Elsewhere in the Santos Basin, Equinor expects to start production at the Bacalhau field this year. The development will produce up to 220,000 barrels per day (bpd). It has an accumulated production potential of over one billion barrels of oil equivalent (Bboe) according to Equinor.
Bacalhau straddles two licenses: BM-S-8 and Norte de Carcara. Equinor operates Bacalhau with a 40 percent stake. Exxon Mobil Corp. owns 40 percent and Petrogal Brasil SA holds 20 percent.
In another Brazilian basin, Campos, Equinor aims to achieve production at the Raia gas project in 2028. Equinor expects the project to have a natural gas export capacity of 16 million standard cubic meters a day. Raia, which contains the Pao de Açucar, Gavea and Seat and discoveries, has an accumulated production potential of more than one Bboe according to Equinor.
Equinor operates Raia with a 35 percent interest. Repsol Sinopec Brasil SA also owns 35 percent. State-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA owns 30 percent.
Equinor, however, is exiting another Campos Basin field, Peregrino. It announced May 2 a deal to divest its 60 percent operating stake in the producing field to Prio SA for $3.5 billion.
Having acquired Sinochem Holdings Corp. Ltd.’s 40 percent ownership last year, Prio would become the sole owner.
Put onstream 2011, Peregrino’s productive life has been extended to 2040 with the startup of phase 2 in 2022. The heavy oilfield produces about 110,000 bpd. Peregrino produced 250 million barrels from start-up to 2024, according to information on Equinor’s website.
“Brazil will continue to be a core country for Equinor, as we focus on starting up the Bacalhau field and continue progressing the Raia gas project”, Philippe Mathieu, Equinor executive vice president for exploration and production international, said then. “With these two operated projects and our partnership in Roncador [producing field] our equity production in Brazil will be close to 200,000 barrels per day by 2030.
“This deal is part of Equinor’s ongoing effort to high-grade its international portfolio through asset divestments and acquisitions. We continue to see growth potential and opportunities to extend the longevity of our international oil and gas portfolio, also in Brazil”.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
What do you think? We’d love to hear from you, join the conversation on the
Rigzone Energy Network.
The Rigzone Energy Network is a new social experience created for you and all energy professionals to Speak Up about our industry, share knowledge, connect with peers and industry insiders and engage in a professional community that will empower your career in energy.
element
var scriptTag = document.createElement(‘script’);
scriptTag.src = url;
scriptTag.async = true;
scriptTag.onload = implementationCode;
scriptTag.onreadystatechange = implementationCode;
location.appendChild(scriptTag);
};
var div = document.getElementById(‘rigzonelogo’);
div.innerHTML += ” +
‘
‘ +
”;
var initJobSearch = function () {
//console.log(“call back”);
}
var addMetaPixel = function () {
if (-1 > -1 || -1 > -1) {
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
} else if (0 > -1 && 76 > -1)
{
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
}
}
// function gtmFunctionForLayout()
// {
//loadJS(“https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-K6ZDLWV6VX”, initJobSearch, document.body);
//}
// window.onload = (e => {
// setTimeout(
// function () {
// document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function () {
// // Select all anchor elements with class ‘ui-tabs-anchor’
// const anchors = document.querySelectorAll(‘a .ui-tabs-anchor’);
// // Loop through each anchor and remove the role attribute if it is set to “presentation”
// anchors.forEach(anchor => {
// if (anchor.getAttribute(‘role’) === ‘presentation’) {
// anchor.removeAttribute(‘role’);
// }
// });
// });
// }
// , 200);
//});
