[copious.abundance]

Here's Petrobras already starting up production in a field under 1,800 meters of water:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=53457

Another Petrobras field in 1,386 meters of water started production last fall:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=53085

Another Petrobras field started production in 1,000-1,600 meters last fall:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=51324

And the CFO of Petrobras says 1 million bpd for Tupi is "not out of reach."
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=53177

So these Tupi/Carioca/Jupiter fields are only another 2-300 meters deeper than the deepest one already in production by Petrobras.

[BrazilianPO]

Here's Petrobras already starting up production in a field under 1,800 meters of water:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=53457

Another Petrobras field in 1,386 meters of water started production last fall:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=53085

Another Petrobras field started production in 1,000-1,600 meters last fall:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=51324

And the CFO of Petrobras says 1 million bpd for Tupi is "not out of reach."
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=53177

So these Tupi/Carioca/Jupiter fields are only another 2-300 meters deeper than the deepest one already in production by Petrobras.

Great research OilFinder2. I read about the "Roncador" production that is already going on (almost 1,900m) of water. There is a nice graph (see the detail of the Christ statue on the left for comparison ), but is goes only until 2003. So, I hope they are now producing even deeper, but I do not know for sure.



Link

[copious.abundance]

--> Bloomberg <--

Petrobras to Start Output at Tupi Ahead of Schedule
By Joe Carroll and Monica Bertran

May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, plans to begin pumping crude from its 8 billion-barrel Tupi field in 2009, a year ahead of schedule, and to start its Carioca field in four to five years.

A test well at the offshore Tupi field will produce about 20,000 barrels of oil a day starting in next year's first quarter, Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli said today in an interview in Houston. Production will reach 100,000 barrels a day by the end of 2010, he said.

Technical challenges involved in tapping crude beneath thousands of meters of rock and salt aren't insurmountable, Gabrielli said. The company will announce an increase in June in its $112.7 billion, 5-year capital budget to fund the work at Tupi, the Western Hemisphere's largest petroleum discovery since 1976, and other offshore prospects, he said.

[...]

And there's more to come:

There are 7 or 8 prospects in the area of the Atlantic Ocean where Tupi and Carioca are located, Gabrielli said. Other producers exploring that area for oil and gas include Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., BG Group Plc and Repsol YPF SA.

``The hypothesis we have is that they are very large reserves, but we don't know,'' Gabrielli said. The increase in capital spending will be ``a lot,'' he said. ``We need more rigs, and they are very expensive right now.''

[TheDude]

Oil megaprojects lists Tupi Ph. 1 starting in May 2009, 20 kbpd first oil. 2009 page was last updated April 28th, so I don't see why this is news.

[copious.abundance]

Any geologists here need a job? Warm, tropical location, with plenty of easy, attractive women.

--> Bloomberg <--

Petrobras Hiring 14,000 Geologists, Roughnecks for New Fields
By Joe Carroll

May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, plans to add 14,000 engineers, geologists and roughnecks within three years as it develops the biggest crude discovery in the Western Hemisphere since 1976.

Petrobras, as the company is known, plans to expand its workforce 23 percent to about 74,000, surpassing Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil producer. The hiring binge is part of a $112.7 billion expansion that may allow Brazil to overtake the output of all OPEC members except Saudi Arabia.

Petrobras lacks the workers needed to tap billions of barrels that lie in the offshore oil finds. The company is trying to hire more than a dozen people a day amid intensifying competition for skilled oil workers after crude prices surged to a record.

[...]

[BrazilianPO]

Any geologists here need a job? Warm, tropical location, with plenty of easy, attractive women.

--> Bloomberg <--

Petrobras Hiring 14,000 Geologists, Roughnecks for New Fields
By Joe Carroll

May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, plans to add 14,000 engineers, geologists and roughnecks within three years as it develops the biggest crude discovery in the Western Hemisphere since 1976.

Petrobras, as the company is known, plans to expand its workforce 23 percent to about 74,000, surpassing Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil producer. The hiring binge is part of a $112.7 billion expansion that may allow Brazil to overtake the output of all OPEC members except Saudi Arabia.

Petrobras lacks the workers needed to tap billions of barrels that lie in the offshore oil finds. The company is trying to hire more than a dozen people a day amid intensifying competition for skilled oil workers after crude prices surged to a record.

[...]

Haha, good luck with that. 14,000 people!!?? They will be lucky if they can find 1,400. Lots of good engineers in Brazil, but few with experience in oil development. Even fewer if Petrobras requires English skills so they can work together with foreign staff.

Also, they have to compete with Vale (CVRD), CSA, Usiminas, Eletrobras and other giants there for the best employees.

Skills shortage is a bitch! It has been a while since I began wondering whether the most critical problem regarding peak oil is actually the lack of resources - not oil, but equipment and people.

[copious.abundance]

^
Well not all of those 14,000 are gonna be geologists and engineers. That number also includes "roughnecks." I guess that means laborers and such working on the rigs.

[BrazilianPO]

^
Well not all of those 14,000 are gonna be geologists and engineers. That number also includes "roughnecks." I guess that means laborers and such working on the rigs.

That's true. Brazil has a lot on unemployment (8-9%), so it will not be hard to find the so-called "roughnecks". But... low skilled labor is really low-skilled in Brazil. Education is very unequal - if you have some money, your kids can go to a private high school that will give them a better education than you will find in most "developed" countries. And from there they can go a public university and get also a very good education - this time for free. Crazy, isn't it?

However, if you go to a public high school, you will barely know how to write a sentence after year 12. Maths? What is that? English? I are, You is.

[copious.abundance]

Misc items from the land of Samba.

--> Petrobras Says Roncador Field May Produce 480,000 Barrels a Day <--

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, said the Roncador offshore field may produce more than 480,000 barrels of oil a day in 2014.

Petrobras expects the Roncador field will reach production of 380,000 barrels of oil a day in December 2008, the Brazilian oil company said on its Agencia Petrobras Web site yesterday. Petrobras said production at that field is due to peak in 2014.

--> Petrobras is near deals on 15 to 17 rigs-analysts <--

Brazil's state oil company Petrobras is close to issuing letters of intent for as many as 17 new offshore drilling rigs, U.S.-based analysts said.

"We are hearing speculation that Petrobras will announce letters of intent for as many as 15 to 17 newbuild drillships and semisubmersibles before the end of this week," Bill Herbert, an analyst with Simmons & Co Int'l, wrote on Friday, citing industry sources.

[...]

--> Report: Brazil wants OPEC membership <--

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva believes his nation wants to join OPEC to help bring down oil prices, a leading German weekly quoted him as saying Friday.

Silva said in the interview published in Der Spiegel news magazine that his nation plans to exploit massive deep-water oil reserves discovered near Rio de Janeiro.

"Then Brazil will become a major oil exporter," Silva said in an advance copy of the interview to be published Saturday. "We want to join OPEC and to try to make oil cheaper."

[...]

[BrazilianPO]

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.

Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based company is known, is hiring rigs that can drill in at least 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) of water, Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli said in an interview last week. The world has 21 such vessels, according to Rigzone.com, which tracks the offshore drilling industry.

Better starting building new oil rigs. The new frontier is now deep-sea exploration.

Link

[copious.abundance]

Looks like Petrobras intends to sell the US and elsewhere more refined stuff, too.

--> LINK <--

Petrobras Plans to Build $8 Billion Brazil Refinery
By Jeb Blount and Carla Simoes

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, plans to start construction of an $8 billion to $10 billion refinery in Sao Luis, Brazil, next year, the country's mines and energy minister said.

The refinery, which will take up to seven years to complete, will process 400,000 to 500,000 barrels a day of Brazilian heavy crude oil into low-sulfur gasoline and other fuels for export to the U.S. and additional countries, the minister, Edison Lobao, said today in an interview in Brasilia.

Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based company is known, seeks to increase profit by processing more of its growing crude oil output instead of exporting it, Lobao said. The plant would increase the company's refining capacity by a quarter.

``The refinery will definitely be in Maranhao,'' Lobao told Bloomberg Television in an interview in his office at the Mines and Energy Ministry. ``Final decisions are being taken to buy the land for the refinery and construction could start in the first quarter of next year.''

Petrobras executives weren't available for comment. Sao Luis, in the Brazilian state of Maranhao, is closer to African, European and U.S. markets than most of the Latin American country's refineries.

Sao Luis, on Brazil's northeastern coast, is the best place for an export-oriented refinery, said Ildo Sauer, an energy professor at the University of Sao Paulo, who headed Petrobras' natural-gas and energy division until September. Sauer was involved in planning the company's refining strategy.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

Oh yeah - and in other news, Petrobras' Brazilian production reached 2.1 million bpd in April, with an additional 500K expected by the end of the year. Though this includes NG.

--> LINK <--

Petrobras' average oil and natural gas production in Brazil reached 2,157,226 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe) in April, 5.1% more than a year ago and 2% above the 2,114,089 boe lifted last March. Only taking domestic field oil production into account, the increase was 3.6% compared to April 2007, and 2.3% more than March.

This 42 thousand bpd difference was the outcome of new wells going online at the P-52 and P-54 platforms, both in Roncador, at the P-35, in Marlim, and at the PPM-1, in Pampo. Production being kicked-off at FPSO-Cidade de Rio das Ostras, on March 31, in the Badejo field, also in the Campos basin, contributed to this mark as well.

Petrobras' daily production capacity is expected to grow an additional 500,000 barrels in 2008, when four more platforms kick-off their operations, three of which in the Campos Basin and one in the Espirito Santo Sea. Furthermore, the five platforms that started producing in 2007 are also slated to reach their maximum capacities during the year.

[...]

[TheDude]

Looks like they're out of the hole. From the EIA page on Brazil,which has a nifty table of upcoming projects.

[copious.abundance]

Petrobras has found oil in the 3rd of 4 exploration wells planned so far for the Carioca/Sugar Loaf structure (or is that the 2nd of 3? I forget). We now await results from the Hess/Exxon well, which should be completed in June or July or thereabouts.
--> LINK <--

[copious.abundance]

Hey cool, looks like Petrobras might be going nano with their new discoveries.
--> LINK <--

[copious.abundance]

Ooo, this sounds exciting (maybe). Another new Petrobras discovery in the Santos Basin, but even more significant . . .

1) 36 API oil. Tupi and Caricoa/Sugar Loaf have API's around 26-30. This is the best oil I've seen yet in this play, and . . .
2) Shallow waters - only 770 feet! And post-salt, not pre-salt.

--> LINK <--

Brazilian state oil company Petrobras on Thursday announced a new "important" find of light oil 36 API grade in the shallow waters of the Santos basin off Sao Paulo state's coast.

Unlike a slew of recent discoveries in the subsalt cluster at great depths at sea, the find was made above the layer of salt about 6,560 feet (2,000 meters) under the ocean floor and and at a water depth of just 770 feet (235 meters), which should make future output easier.

Petrobras is the only company working the BMS-40 block, where it expects to start drilling a second well next month, it said in a statement. It provided no reserve estimates.

The find, located about 170 miles (275 km) south of the coastal city of Santos, was confirmed via a formation test, which showed a high flow rate for the type of reservoir and oil found and an estimated per-well production potential of more than 12,000 barrels per day, the company said.

"The discovery is of great importance because of its potential for light oil production and the reserve's location in shallow waters," it added.

[...]

Can't tell from this map where BMS-40 is, but it's not in any of the Tupi, Jupiter or Carioca/Sugar Loaf blocks.



I'm so excited! Let's hope the volumes are large.

[copious.abundance]

Looks like there's *yet another* prospective basin off the coast of Brazil.

--> LINK <--

Brazil's Petrobras hopes to tap new oil basin
Tue Jun 3, 2008 10:37am EDT
By Andrei Khalip

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras seeks to tap a new basin off the northeastern coast, even as new oil discoveries crop up regularly in the prolific Santos Basin down south.

The Jequitinhonha Basin far up the coast from Santos is promising enough to move a drilling rig from Santos' large Jupiter gas find soon, said Petrobras' exploration and production director Guilherme Estrella at the Reuters Global Energy Summit late on Monday.

"We always need to open new frontiers and the geological data in the BMJ-3 block looks very interesting. We have a great deal of hope there... The prospects are very good. We wouldn't be moving a rig from Jupiter for something small," he said.

Petrobras owns a 60 percent stake in the deep-water block in the Jequitinhonha Basin. Norway's StatoilHydro (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) has a 40 percent stake.

[...]

But I'm wondering if this next statement includes Carioca/Sugar Loaf, which was supposed to be assessed this summer?

[...]

Petrobras does not expect to have enough new data available to make any new subsalt reserve estimates before next year, Estrella said.

[...]

And some more info on the prospect in the article I linked above. Among other things, we now know it's called "Tiro." Which also has a neighboring shallow water prospect called "Sidon."

[...]

Regarding last week's announcement of an important light oil find at the BMS-40 area in shallow waters in Santos basin, Estrella said this crude accumulation was yet to be deemed commercially viable, but the company was planning to move a producing drill rig from neighboring Coral field if necessary.

"The Coral is becoming depleted. We may use the rig for a long-term production test, or maybe we could even start a pilot project straight away," he said. Petrobras will either drill an extension well in the same location known as Tiro or spud what it believes may be another promising BMS-40 accumulation, known as Sidon.

[...]

So many exciting prospects!

[lawnchair]

Brazilian Oil Finds may require $100-$250 billion to tap.

Now, if there really are 50 billion recoverable barrels there, then it will pay for itself. If there are somewhat less than that... it starts getting expensive.

via Bloomberg

[copious.abundance]

FYI.

--> Reuters <--

Petrobras sees Tupi lifting costs below $8.20/bl
Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:52pm BST
By Walter Brandimarte

NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - Brazilian oil company Petrobras forecast lifting costs in its Tupi oil field will be lower than its current average $8.20 a barrel by the end of 2010, when the giant subsalt reserve is expected to start producing some 100,000 barrels per day (bpd).

A long-term production test of the wells at Tupi is set for the first quarter of 2009. The test will see between 20,000 and 30,000 bpd pumped from the field.

Assuming test production is successful, Petrobras plans to install a 100,000 bpd capacity floating production storage and offtake (FPSO) facility at Tupi by late 2010 to begin early production.

During test production, lifting costs will exceed Petrobras' $8.20 a barrel average, Chief Executive Jose Sergio Gabrielli said in New York on Tuesday.

"But we are going to lower our lifting cost," Gabrielli told reporters after a presentation to investors organized by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

Some more updates. So much going on here!

--> Petrobras' Tupi field to produce 500,000 bpd by '20 <--

Petrobras' Tupi field to produce 500,000 bpd by '20
Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:18am EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras plans to have its giant Tupi oil field fully operational by 2015, with output of at least 500,000 barrels per day by 2020, a top company official said.

Long-term production tests have begun at two Tupi wells and a third one will start in the coming months, Petrobras' exploration and production director, Guilherme Estrella, said late on Wednesday.

Petrobras intends to drill eight more wells from 2010 on. Five of them will be producing wells.

"Our estimate is that these 11 wells will cost around $1 billion ... The third well has an estimated cost of $100 million and the other ones of $60-$80 million," Estrella said on the sidelines of a seminar.

[...]

An announcement of a second new refinery - this one, like the other, in Brazil's northeast.

--> Petrobras to Build Refinery in Brazil's Rio Grande do Norte <--

Petrobras to Build Refinery in Brazil's Rio Grande do Norte
By Paulo Winterstein

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, plans to build a refinery in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The refinery, which will produce gasoline, diesel, liquefied gas and jet fuel, is expected to begin output by 2010, Petrobras said in an e-mailed statement.

Petrobras, based in Rio de Janeiro, is also in talks with the state of Ceara to build a refinery with the capacity to process 300,000 barrels a day. The company and the government may sign a firm accord in up to 120 days for the project. Production at the Ceara refinery may begin in 2014, Petrobras said. The company didn't give details on the size of the planned Rio Grande do Norte refinery.

Here's a cost estimate of the first of the two northeast refinery announcements, plus an expansion of yet another refinery.

--> Brazil Petrobras to invest $11 bln in oil refinery <--

Brazil Petrobras to invest $11 bln in oil refinery
Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:52am EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12 (Reuters) - Plans by Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras to build an oil refinery in the northeastern state of Ceara will require an investment of $11 billion, a top company official said on Thursday.

Paulo Roberto Costa, Petrobras director of downstream operations, also said the company may have to raise its planned investment in another oil refinery, to be built in Pernambuco state, because of soaring equipment prices.

This investment is currently estimated at $4 billion.

The Ceara plant will have a refining capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, while the Pernambuco unit will be able to process 200,000 bpd.

[...]

And yet another pre-salt discovery in the same block as the Carioca discovery, with the exact same API too.

--> Brazil's Petrobras finds more light oil in subsalt <--

Brazil's Petrobras finds more light oil in subsalt
Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:34am BST

SAO PAULO, June 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras said on Thursday that it struck light oil in another ultra-deep field under the subsalt layer in the Santos Basin.

This is the latest in a slew of promising deep-water light-oil discoveries over the past year that have helped more than double the price of Petrobras shares.

Petrobras said the find was in the Guara, the smaller of two fields in the BM-S-9 ultra-deep block, which also holds the so-called potential super-giant Carioca field. It also yielded light oil from an exploratory well sunk in September of 2007.

The oil from the Guara ranked 28 on the API scale, making it much lighter than the bulk of crude produced in Brazil, which ranges around 14 to 18 API.

Petrobras offered no reserve estimate for the new find, which lies at a very technically challenging ultra-deep depth, under 2,141 meters of water and another 5,000 meters under the ocean floor, including a salt layer.

[...]