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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mistermj who wrote (21225)	4/16/2008 10:51:55 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 36917

Clarification on Carioca (reported discovery in Santos Basin) Posted by Luís de Sousa on April 16, 2008 - 12:30am in The Oil Drum: Europe [Update: The Brasilian press is reporting wide criticism to Haroldo Lima who at the moment is denying he announced the find: “I haven't announced anything, nor did I used that word [anoucement] at any moment.” (hat tip Carolus Obscurus).] Reuters reported yesterday: Haroldo Lima told reporters the find, known as Carioca, could contain 33 billion barrels of oil equivalent, five times the recent giant Tupi discovery. That would further boost Brazil's prospects as an important world oil province and the source of new crude in the Americas. "It could be the world's biggest discovery in the past 30 years, and the world's third-biggest currently active field," Lima, head of the government's oil and fuel market regulator, told reporters at an industry event in Rio de Janeiro. Lima said he obtained the data from Petrobras at an informal level. But the National Petroleum Agency distanced itself from Lima's remarks, saying in a statement that they were "unofficial" and simply repeated information already in the public domain. "All the data were already in the public domain, having even been published in the February edition of World Oil magazine, in the 'What's new in exploration' column signed by Arthur Berman," the agency said in a statement. Hours ago Petrobras issued a clarification on its Portuguese language website: The consortium formed by Petrobras (45%-operator), BG (30%) and Repsol YPF Brasil (25%) continues following the exploratory program of Block BM-S-9 in the Santos Basin. The Block is composed by two exploratory areas. In the larger was drilled the first well, 1-BRSA-491-SPS (1-SPS-50) that resulted in the discovery announced in the 5th of September of 2007. At the occasion the market was informed that new investments are needed, that would contemplate the drilling of new wells, and whose Assessment Plan is in the initial phase of elaboration and should be formalized at ANP [National Petroleum Agency] in the next few days. According to the regular exploration chronogram, the Company started in the 22nd of March of 2008 the drilling of the second well, the 1-BRSD-594-SPS (1-SPS-55) situated in the smaller area of the Block, but that up to the moment has not reached the pre-salt layer. The continuity of the exploratory activities includes the drilling of new wells, test of long term formation and new geologic studies to ascertain the size of the discovery. More conclusive data on the potential of the discovery will be known only after the conclusion of the remaining phases of the assessment process and will be informed to the market opportunely. The emphasis is present in the original text. The second area is smaller than that announced in September and has not yet been reached by drilling. In light of this new information it seems unlikely at the moment that the find will represent the volume implied by Haroldo Lima. Still, as reported last November, Tupi is possibly just the first of a series of fields that may compose an entirely new oil region enclosed in the Santos Basin. Hence new discoveries of significant volume in this area are likely. Luís de Sousa, The Oil Drum: Europe europe.theoildrum.com