American company Chevron proceeds with its first project in the Brazilian pre-salt and plans to drill two wells in the Santos Basin
The oil company Chevron filed a licensing request with Ibama for exploration in the area of block SM-764, in the Santos Basin pre-salt.
The reason was the company's new focus (the Pre-salt) and depending on the satisfactory results of the first well, Chevron is already planning to carry out a second drilling in the area that it won in the 15th round of the ANP.
The fact only confirmed the company's planning to focus on the pre-salt layer, as reported by Click Petróleo e Gás, the company sold its stake in the Frade field to PetroRio, to accomplish this objective.
The area that will receive Chevron's drilling is the company's first pre-salt project and is located at a distance of 270 km from the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro (in relation to the municipality of Arraial do Cabo) and water depth of 2.750m deep.
Chevron holds a 40% stake in the block and is partnered by Germany's Whintershall, with a 20% stake, and Spain's Repsol, which holds 40%.
The area was auctioned during the 15th round of the ANP and the consortium paid R$ 131,9 million in signing bonuses for the concession. All the logistics for the drilling campaign will be handled by Porto do Açu, in the north of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Chevron's new focus
Confirming its planning to prioritize the pre-salt, Chevron announced in April the purchase of Anadarko for US$ 33 billion and increased its holdings in Brazil.
With the operation, Chevron expanded its portfolio in Brazil, from eight to ten areas and now owns 30% and 33%, which belonged to Anadarko, in blocks CM-101 and CM-61 (Campos basin), respectively.
Chevron has interests in four other areas of the Campos Basin, namely: CM-791 (40%), CM-821 (40%), CM-823 (40%) and in the Papa-Terra field (37,5 %).
Petroleira is also present in the Santos Basin, where it has stakes in the CE-M-715 (50%), in the Ceará Basin; in the SM-764 block (40%), and in the Três Marias (30%) and Saturno (50%) sharing areas.
