Rio de Janeiro – This Wednesday (29th), the Brazilian oil company Petrobras forwarded to the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel Agency (ANP) a declaration of commerciality of recoverable oil and gas in the Tupi and Iracema fields, in the Santos Basin. In the proposal, Petrobras suggests the names Field of Lula (which means Squid in Portuguese), for Tupi, and Field of Cernambi (scientific name Anomalocardia brasiliana), for Iracema, both of which are names of molluscs. The state-owned company traditionally names fields discovered at great depths after sea animals. In the case of the Field of Lula, however, there is a clear reference to president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose term in office ends this week.
In a statement, Petrobras informs that the two fields are part of the BMS-11 Block and that reserves total 8.3 billion barrels of oil and gas, of which 6.5 billion are in the Field of Lula and 1.8 billion are in the Field of Cernambi.
According to the state-owned enterprise, "the Field of Lula will be the first super-giant oil field in the country [recoverable volume of over 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent], and the Field of Cernambi is among the five largest gigantic fields in Brazil."
In the statement, Petrobras explains that the declaration of commerciality has been issued after the implementation of the Exploratory Evaluation Program in the area, for which the first well was drilled in October 2006. In addition to the document, Petrobras submitted to the ANP its Production Development plans for the two fields (view the location of the areas on the adjoining map).
"The success achieved in exploration in the area represents the heightened potential of the pre-salt [layer], which is already starting to contribute to the growth of the company’s production curve and oil and gas reserves," according to the statement.
The BMS-11 Block is operated by Petrobras, which owns 65% of the concession, in partnership with the British britânica BG Group, with a 25% share, and the Portuguese Galp Energia, with 10%.
*With information from the ANBA Newsroom. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum