Bharat Petroleum, Videocon consortium discovers oil off Brazilian coast

A consortium that includes Bharat Petroleum and Videocon Industries has made a significant crude oil discovery off the Brazil’s Northeast coast.

The discovery was made in a well drilled in the BM-SEAL-11 exploration block in the Sergipe basin off Brazil’s Northeast coast, the two companies said in regulatory filings.

The well was drilled to appraise the ‘Farfan’ discovery made in August 2013.

“The result obtained in this well, confirms the extension of the light oil reservoirs previously discovered by the ‘Farfan’ discovery well… In addition, the well found of a new light oil accumulation with a total thickness of 68 meters in shallower reservoirs,” they said in identical but separate filings.

Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), which is the operator of the block, expects to start producing oil in the area in 2018.

The discovery, located 103-km from the city of Aracaju, is one of several in recent years in an area believed to hold more than 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

“The consortium plans to continue with the Discovery Assessment Plan as approved by the Brazilian upstream regulatory agency ANP,” it said.

Petrobras is the operator of the block BM-SEAL-11 with 60 per cent interest. IBV Brazil – a 50:50 joint venture of Bharat PetroResources Ltd and Videocon Industries, holds the remaining 40 per cent.

Bharat PetroResources Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of BPCL.

Bharat Petroleum