The Campos Basin twenty years of activity and deep-water exploration success

Abstract

As of December 31, 1988, the Campos Basin contained 484 exploratory wells, and 113 000 km of 2-D and 126 000 km of 3-D seismic lines had been acquired. At water depths of over 400 m, forty wells had been drilled and 125 000 km of 2-D and 3-D seismic tines acquired. basin reserves are currently estimated et 304.5 x 10⁶ m³ of oil (1.9 billion barrels) and 41 billion m³ of gas. Volume of equivalent oil in place is approximately 5.05 x 10⁹ m³ (32 billion barrels) of which some 3 x 10⁹ m³ (19 billion barrels) are found in eight deep-water pools. After twenty years of effective exploration, the basin still presents a vest array of geological situations favorable lo the location of sizeable hydrocarbon deposits. These are generally related to deep horizons of the Lagoa Feia Formation, along the producing trend: lo Tertiary deep-water target; and lo areas which have not yet been throughly studied or assessed, such as the São Tomé Low and the Cabo Frio and Vitória arches.