Petrobras betting on new offshore exploration frontiers

Petrobras is betting on new offshore oil and gas exploration frontiers in Brazil and abroad while developing solutions to reduce its environmental impact.  

On Tuesday, the state-run firm confirmed that it will maintain Colombia’s Tayrona block in its portfolio. 

The asset was part of Petrobras’ divestment program, but its sale process was terminated after no binding offers were presented, the company said in a statement.

In 2022, Petrobras announced the discovery of a natural gas accumulation in Tayrona through the Uchuva-1 well, 32km off Colombia's Caribbean coast in water 830m deep.

The Brazilian NOC – which holds a 44.44% stake in the project in partnership with Colombia’s state oil firm Ecopetrol (55.56%) – plans to start an exploration campaign in Tayrona in 2024.

Meanwhile, in Brazil Petrobras is awaiting a license from the federal environmental agency Ibama to drill a well in block FZA-M-59 in the Foz do Amazonas basin. 

Dubbed Morpho, the well will be sunk by Ocyan's ODN II rig in water 2,880m deep, 160km off Amapá state. 

Foz do Amazonas is located in the environmentally sensitive Equatorial Margin, where according to a former CEO, Petrobras has a “great oilfield prospect” and plans to invest approximately US$3bn by 2027.   

The company also operates, in the northern region, blocks in the Barreirinhas, Potiguar and Pará-Maranhão basins.

In March, Petrobras launched a tender to acquire services for collecting primary socioeconomic data for environmental impact studies regarding drilling in the three basins. 

ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS

Petrobras is considering adopting a new solution to integrate exploration and production operations in the Equatorial Margin and other new frontier areas with new energy sources. 

The so-called energy ecosystem is designed to incorporate solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the long term, such as offshore wind energy, low carbon hydrogen and carbon capture.

Petrobras is currently studying the implementation of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub in partnership with other companies in Brazil. 

The project consists of creating a CO2 flow infrastructure from capture sites in industrial facilities to its permanent storage in a reservoir below the seabed. 

The goal is to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated not only by Petrobras' operations but also by other sectors, such as the cement industry and steel mills.

Petrobras says it will carry out a CCS pilot project in Rio de Janeiro with capacity to capture 100,000t/y of CO2 at the Cabiúnas terminal in the north of the state. 

The undertaking is in the study phase and the date for implementation still depends on complementary analyses.

Meanwhile, the company is working on the use of geological and geophysical data and on the development of algorithms to reduce geological uncertainties, the number of wells drilled and, consequently, greenhouse gas emissions and other impacts on the environment.