Solimões Basin: oil potencial and explopation perspectives - northern Brazil

Abstract

Hydrocarbon exploration activities in the Paleozoic Solimões Basin, formerly known as the Alto Amazonas, date to 1917, when Brazil's Geological and Mineralogical Service, the National Department of Mineral Production and the National Petroleum Council began geological work in the Amazon region. PETROBRÁS has been active in the basin through two major exploratory campaigns. Undertaken during the sixties and tested by sixteen stratigraphic wells, the first campaign revealed an extremely attractive oil basin. The second, launched in 1975, culminated with the 1978 discovery of commercial quantities of gas in the Juruá Trend; the further evolution of research activities led to the 1986 discovery of oil in the Urucu Trend. Exploratory efforts have yielded a sizeable amount of data and have increased knowledge of the geology of the basin, resulting in the discovery of significant volumes of oil, gas, and condensate. It has also been possible to predict new discoveries based on continued exploratory research.