Development and reservoir geology at Petrobras

Abstract

Brazilian volumes of hydrocarbon in place are estimated at 7,067 x 106 m3 of oil and 742 x 109 m 3 of gas, distributed across some three hundred oil fields in seven producing basins. The drilling of approximately 2,500 wildcat wells in Brazilian sedimentary basins over the next twenty to thirty years is expected to result in the discovery of additional volumes of 7,600 x 106 m3 of oil and 1,100 x 109 m3 of gas. Participating in and contributing to the rational exploitation of these fields is the task of the PETROBRÁS Development and Reservoir Geology area (GDR). Enhancing recoverv factors while bearing in mind economic limitations is the key goal of the GDR, in conjunction with the Reservoir Engineering area. The GDR has evolved continuously since its first interpretation etforts in Recôncavo Basin fields at the end of the fifties. There is at present growing conviction of the advantage of the so-called exploitational model of interpretation, wherein petroleum fields are analyzed and managed as organic wholes, as part of a multi-disciplinary framework relying on the joint participation of development geologists and reservoir engineers. PETROBRÁS still has a long way to go here, but the results of experimental projects indicate that the company is on the right track.