Brazilian celebrity: Christ the Redeemer
Brazil's Tupi exciting but 'challenging'
Petrobras’ Tupi oil find has the potential to be the largest ever deep-water oil discovery, said energy consultant Wood Mackenzie, but the scale of the find will present "challenges" in developing it.
“Petrobras has estimated recoverable reserves in the (Tupi) area at between 5 and 8 billion barrels. Should this estimate prove to be accurate, this would make Tupi the largest discovery since Kashagan in Kazakhstan in January 2000 and the largest ever deepwater (>400 metres) oil discovery, dwarfing previous big finds in the exploration hotspots of deepwater West Africa and deepwater Gulf of Mexico,” said Wood Mackenzie.
Tupi on its own could transform the outlook for Brazilian oil production, adding between 40% and 60% to Wood Mackenzie’s current estimate of 12.6 billion barrels for Brazil’s remaining 2P reserves, increasing its future export potential hugely.
However, the size and water depth of Tupi means developing it will not be easy from a technology and equipment-access viewpoint.
“Development of subsalt resources in ultra-deep water presents major technology challenges. Seismic imaging of the reservoir may be poor, making estimation of reserves difficult and location of production wells hard to optimise. Subsalt fields elsewhere in the world have experienced drilling problems that have slowed production build-up. These challenges are particularly acute given the high cost of wells in ultra-deep water.”
Petrobras is the operator of Tupi with a 65% interest with partners BG (25%) and GALP (10%).