Independent Brazilian oil company Marítima Petróleo e Engenharia Ltda., a unit of Brazilian firm Synergy Group Corp. (formerly Rainier Engineering Ltd.), reported making a light oil discovery with a well drilled on Block BT-REC-3, which lies onshore in Brazil's Bahia state in Recôncavo basin about 120 km from Bahia state's capital of Salvador.
"We discovered estimated reserves of 2.5 million bbl of 35º gravity oil onshore Bahia state," Flavio Mach Barreto, Marítima exploration and production director, told OGJ. The director emphasized that these estimated reserves were "very conservative" and that "through secondary recovery, this figure might double." The discovery well—which is yet to be named—was drilled to 2,160 m and found oil at 2,020 m, Barreto said.
The well is the first onshore oil discovery in Bahia in 10 years, Barreto said, as well as the first to be drilled on the block. "This also is the first discovery by an oil company not associated with state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) and is our first since the opening of the oil sector to competition in 1997," the director affirmed.
The discovery is promising because it is located near a very rich light oil province where Petrobras has drilled around 500 wells, say local analysts.
According to Brazilian law, the next step is to seek the approval of the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) for the company's development plans, and if all goes well, Barreto said, "We expect to start producing within a year with 500 b/d and stabilize at 2,000 b/d (of oil)."
Marítima won the concession for this block in mid-2000 during ANP's second open bid round (OGJ Online, June 7, 2000).
The opening of the oil sector to private competition and investments made it possible for Marítima—which had much experience in oil services and offshore engineering—to begin an unprecedented growth and diversification of its oil sector business and capital input, the director said.
Marítima also acquired five onshore blocks in mature sedimentary basins, totaling a 2,000 sq km area during several ANP bid rounds. Without considering the latest discovery, the company estimates that it holds reserves of 2 million bbl in the other blocks that it controls.
Marítima's strategy is to concentrate investments in its onshore concessions with the greatest geological potential: the Recôncavo, Sergipe-Alagoas, and Potiguar basins, added Barreto.
The company is also prospecting for oil in Ecuador and Colombia, Barreto concluded.
