bp has announced its largest discovery in 25 years at the Bumerangue block in Brazil's Santos Basin, revealing a substantial hydrocarbon column in a high-quality pre-salt reservoir.
bp announced a significant hydrocarbon discovery at its Bumerangue block, located in the pre-salt Santos Basin offshore Brazil on August 4. The find is being hailed as the company’s largest exploration success in a quarter of a century.
The discovery was made by the 1-bp-13-SPS exploration well, drilled approximately 404 kilometres (218 nautical miles) from Rio de Janeiro in a challenging water depth of 2,372 metres. The well, which was drilled to a total depth of 5,855 metres, successfully intersected the target reservoir approximately 500 metres below the crest of the structure.
According to a company statement, the well penetrated a remarkable 500-metre gross hydrocarbon column. The reservoir itself is described as a high-quality pre-salt carbonate with an impressive areal extent of more than 300 square kilometres, suggesting a potentially vast resource. The successful drilling operation was a significant technical achievement, providing crucial data for future development plans.
Gordon Birrell, bp’s executive vice president for Production & Operations, expressed his excitement over the discovery. "We are excited to announce this significant discovery at Bumerangue, bp’s largest in 25 years," he said. “This is another success in what has been an exceptional year so far for our exploration team, underscoring our commitment to growing our upstream.”
Initial rig-site analysis has, however, indicated elevated levels of carbon dioxide within the reservoir. bp will now proceed with a detailed laboratory analysis to further characterize the reservoir and the discovered fluids. These results will be pivotal in providing a more comprehensive understanding of the Bumerangue block's full potential. Further appraisal activities are already being planned, though they remain subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals.
The Bumerangue block is wholly owned by bp, with Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. acting as the Production Sharing Contract manager. The company secured the block on commercially favorable terms during the 1st Cycle of the Open Acreage of Production Sharing of ANP in December 2022. This demonstrates bp’s strategic focus on Brazil, a key country for the company's long-term growth ambitions. Birrell further commented on this strategy, stating, “Brazil is an important country for bp, and our ambition is to explore the potential of establishing a material and advantaged production hub in the country."
The discovery supports bp’s global strategy to grow its upstream production to a range of 2.3-2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030, with the capacity to further increase output beyond 2035.
