Petrobras announced the discovery of oil and gas in ultra-deep waters in the Central Gulf of Mexico, in the U.S., via its Petrobras America Inc. subsidiary, based in Houston, Texas. The discovery was made via the Stones # 3 well, drilled to perform the exploratory assessment of the Stones discovery, which is operated by Shell and located in Block WR 508, in ultra-deep Walker Ridge Quadrant waters. Petrobras America Inc. holds a 25% stake there. The remaining partners, in addition to Shell (35%), are Marathon and ENI, with 25%, and 15%, respectively. The Stones # 3 well is located at a depth of 2,286 meters from the water line and reached a total depth of 8,960 meters under the sea bed, finding oil in multiple reservoirs. Future drilling and assessment activities are being planned to define this discovery’s size and commercial viability.
This result confirms the potential of significant oil reserves in this type of reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico, where Petrobras operates the Cascade and Chinook fields which at the present are in the production development and facility construction phase.
Petrobras will be the pioneer company in production in this type of reservoir in ultra-deep waters. It will also pioneer using an FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) type platform in the region, the production of which is slated to go online in June 2010. In this same area, Petrobras also holds 25% stakes in the Saint Malo field. This field is operated by Chevron and is in the assessment and extension exploratory drilling phase. Also, studies are being done to the production development project for Saint Malo.
Holding stakes in these discoveries confers Petrobras a differentiated position in the Walker Ridge Quadrant and its neighboring areas. Furthermore, these discoveries are aligned with the company’s Strategic Plan and are important steps in the consolidation of a quality Exploration and Production project portfolio in deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico."