Petrobras and its exploration partners are still evaluating the latest drilling results in Libra, the main field of the Brazilian pre-salt layer, but France’s Total, one of the partners, has already advanced that only the northeast part may hold 3 billion to 4 billion barrels of oil. It’s the first volume estimate released since exploration started in the area, two years ago, and is already higher than the recoverable oil volume of Sapinhoá, another top pre-salt asset, which is estimated to hold 2.1 billion.
Libra is operated by Petrobras (40%) in partnership with Total (20%), Shell (20%) and Chinese companies CNOOC (10%) and CNPC (10%). Although the first stage of exploration investments in the area is still being finalized, the French oil major already considers it one of the most competitive projects in its portfolio.
Total expects to extract 100,000 barrels a day from Libra at peak production, making the project one of its main long-term production growth drivers. The oil major also expects Libra to become a low-cost production asset. “It’s clear we have a gigantic and homogenous deposit in the northeast part of the block that is an ideal candidate for equipment standardization and which will optimize production costs, as we have been doing in Angola,” the company’s exploration and production president, Arnaud Breuillac, told investors recently.
Source: Valor Econômico S.A.