BP has strategically enhanced its position offshore Brazil after agreeing a farm-in deal for five deepwater blocks with Petrobras, on top of concessions it won in the latest licensing round.
The UK major has completed a deal with the Brazilian major to farm-in to the five exploration and production concessions operated by the state-owned company in the frontier Potiguar Basin in the Brazilian Equatorial Margin. BP subsidiary BP Energy do Brasil Ltda. will hold a 30% interest in blocks POT-M-663 and POT-M-760 (contract BM-POT-16), and a 40% interest in blocks POT-M-665, POT-M-853 and POT-M-855 (contract BM-POT-17). The blocks cover a total area of 3,837 sq km.
Guillermo Quintero, BP Brazil President, said: “Since first gaining interests in 10 blocks with our purchase of Devon Energy do Brasil in 2011, we have now expanded our upstream portfolio to interests in 27 blocks in seven basins, which includes the largest deepwater exploration portfolio held by an international oil company in Brazil.”
Following the farm-in – and the expected signature in August of concession agreements awarded in Brazil’s Round 11 – BP will hold interests in 27 blocks and will operate eight.
Petrobras will also hold interests in 22 of those same blocks, with 12 operated by Petrobras, six by Total, and four by BP.
Contracts BM-POT-16 and BM-POT-17 were awarded in Round 7, held in 2005, and are located between 40-110 km off the coast of the Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará states, in water depths ranging from 50-2,100 m (164-6,890 ft).
After regulatory approvals, BM-POT-16 will be explored by a consortium made up of Petrobras (30%, operator), BP (30%), Petrogal Brasil S.A. (20%) and IBV (20%), while BM-POT-17 will be operated by Petrobras (40%), with partners BP (40%) and Petrogal Brasil S.A. (20%).
BP and CNOOC have signed a production sharing agreement for Block 54/11 in the deepwater Pearl River Mouth Basin in the South China Sea. The block covers 4,586 sq km in water depths ranging from 370-2,300 m (1,214-7,546 ft), and is near to the UK major’s existing interests in Blocks 43/11 and 42/05.
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