Peru prospects: Petrobras is planning to crank output from the maturing Talara field and spud near the Camisea natural gas field
Petrobras primes Peru bit
Brazilian state oil company Petrobras is drilling new onshore wells to boost oil output from its mature Talara field in Peru by up to 50% in the next few years and is preparing to spud near the giant Camisea natural gas field, hoping for new finds.
Petrobras country manager Pedro Grijalba told Reuters today the Talara Block 10 output should rise to between 18,000 and 20,000 barrels per day from around 13,000 bpd after nearly a thousand wells are added to its 1,750 existing conventional lifting and 600 suction wells over five years.
With its sole northern coast production field, Brazil's state-run oil company accounts for about 13% of Peru's oil output, behind Argentina's Pluspetrol and US company Petro-Tech.
Petrobras will drill 124 wells this year in Peru, investing $84 million, up from 50 wells and $62 million last year. Investment has been rising steadily over the past few years since Petrobras bought Argentina's Perez Companc, which owned Block 10.
In July, Petrobras and Spain's Repsol YPF will drill the first exploration well at their Block 57, not far from the Camisea natural gas field in southern Peru. Camisea is operated by a Pluspetrol-led consortium and has reserves of around 13 trillion cubic feet. Next January, Petrobras will drill the neighboring Block 58, which it fully owns.
"All this area is an area of gas and condensate. Geologists are convinced we'll find gas there," Grijalba said.
The Camisea consortium is building a liquefied natural gas terminal to export the clean-burning fuel from Peru to Mexico and then the US starting from 2010.
"If we find 4.5-5 tcf of gas we could go ahead with a new LNG train project, or we could think of a pipeline" to Brazil, or another neighbouring country, Grijalba said.
Another area Petrobras is pinning high hopes on is Block 117 in the Amazon, which lies very close to Petrobras' own heavy oil field in neighbouring Ecuador and not far form an area in Peru where US-based Barrett Resources has made an important heavy crude discovery.
Petrobras is still doing environmental impact studies there, which should last about 18 months. It also has blocks in central Peru, where it expects to find light oil. It is preparing to start seismic studies there.
Petrobras is also considering going offshore in Peru, but Grijalba said more studies were necessary because the area offered higher risks and lower potential than existing plays off Brazil's Atlantic coast or West Africa.