Insight

Into the unknown – extending Brazil’s pre-salt play

16 October 2020

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16 October 2020

Into the unknown – extending Brazil’s pre-salt play

Report summary

Brazil's pre-salt is among the most high-profile deepwater plays in the world. Since the first pre-salt discovery – Lula, made by Petrobras in 2006 – other discoveries have added 26 bnboe to the country’s resource base. Today, the pre-salt output corresponds to 70% of Brazil’s total liquid production. Despite the excellent track record, more recent results have been disappointing. Several high-profile pre-salt well failures have left explorers wondering about the region’s future prospectivity. In this report we provide an overview of what makes the pre-salt work, how we see the technical risks and how commercial risk exposure could be reduced through improved terms.

Executive summary
A new paradigm for the pre-salt play?
What makes the pre-salt work?
And what are the risks?
- Presence of CO 2
- Variable reservoir quality
- High GOR
- Presence of effective seal
Key pre-salt players
What will help companies to unlock pre-salt discoveries ?
Is the pre-salt still a good place to be?

Tables and charts

This report includes 6 images and tables including:

Brazil’s largest pre-salt fields and exploration wells
Recent wells drilled
Pre-salt depositional model

Players in pre-salt PSC blocks
IRR for different volumes and fiscal terms in Brazil
A Mero-sized discovery under high profit shares in Brazil returns a similar IRR as a 200 mmboe under Canada terms