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PETROBRAS UNVEILS FOUR BIG CAMPOS FINDS

April 18, 1994

Petroleo Brasileiro SA has discovered four more offshore Campos basin fields that are expected to boost Brazil's crude oil reserves by more than 1 billion bbl. Three of the discoveries are in water deeper than 3,000 ft. If a fast track development plan were feasible and approved in time, combined production from the new fields--East Albacora, Caratinga, East Marlim, and Guarajuba--could within 3 years reach more than 200,000 b/d. That would help boost the country's oil production to

Petroleo Brasileiro SA has discovered four more offshore Campos basin fields that are expected to boost Brazil's crude oil reserves by more than 1 billion bbl.

Three of the discoveries are in water deeper than 3,000 ft.

If a fast track development plan were feasible and approved in time, combined production from the new fields--East Albacora, Caratinga, East Marlim, and Guarajuba--could within 3 years reach more than 200,000 b/d. That would help boost the country's oil production to about I million b/d from the current 720,000 b/d, in tandem with increasing output from other Campos fields.

FIELDS DELINEATED

Petrobras delineated the four new fields with a $40 million drilling program completed in first quarter 1994. It expects to spend another $2.5 billion to further delineate and develop:

East Albacora field, covering about 200 sq km in 3,600 ft of water east of Albacora field. With recoverable reserves estimated at 550 million bbl, East Albacora is among Brazil's largest oil fields, equal in size to giant Barracuda field, also in the Campos basin. Petrobras reckons each well in the field will produce about 5,000 b/d of oil, with peak field production reaching about 100,000 b/d.
Caratinga field, covering 30 sq km about 5 km southeast of Barracuda in 3,025 ft of water. Caratinga's peak oil flow is expected to reach nearly 40,000 b/d, with individual wells producing about 3,000 b/d. Recoverable field reserves are estimated at 130 million bbl.
East Marlim field, in 3,475 ft of water east of Marlim field, is expected to produce about 35,000 b/d of oil from recoverable reserves estimated at 185 million bbl.
Guarajuba field, covering 35 sq km in 388 ft of water about 40 km south of Pampo field, extends Campos basin's southern productive limit. Guarajuba reserves are estimated at 150 million bbl, with peak production of 30,000 b/d of oil based on a flow of 1,500 b/d/well.

The Campos basin is Brazil's largest producing area, accounting for about 74% of the country's crude oil and condensate reserves, which as of June 1993 Petrobras estimated at 3.8 billion bbl.