Petrobras and Sonangol have started the binding phase for sale of the total stakes of both companies in the onshore exploratory block POT-T-794, part of the BT-POT-55A concession, in the Potiguar basin of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
The concession was acquired in 2006 in the 7th Bidding Round of Blocks held by the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP). Sonangol is operator with 30%. Petrobras holds the remaining 70%.
The consortium has drilled two wells in the area, one gas discoverer and one appraisal well. There are no remaining minimum exploratory program commitments to be fulfilled.
The discovering well (1-STAR-8-RN) lies at the southwest end of a trend of oil and gas producing fields that extends to Estreito field, Petrobras has said.
The main targets are Cretaceous sandstones from Upanema Member of Alagamar formation, representatives of alluvial fan deposits and fluvial environments, locally sealed by shales within the Alagamar formation, in a domic structure closed against a fault plane, according to Petrobras.
