Drill ship to drill in the Pitu Oeste Field in the Potiguar Basin

(TN) The Petrobras drill ship that will be responsible for drilling the Pitu Oeste well, on the Equatorial Margin, arrived in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The vessel left Rio de Janeiro on December 6th and will begin operating later this month in the BM-POT-17 concession. The license to drill exploratory wells, in deep waters of the Potiguar Basin, was granted by IBAMA, in October 2023.

The first well will be drilled 52 km off the coast. With the exploratory research, the company intends to obtain more geological information about the area to assess the economic viability and extent of the oil discovery made in 2013 in the Pitu well. There is no oil production at this stage.

“This is a great moment for Petrobras. We are confident in the potential of this stretch of the Brazilian coast, which is very promising and essential for ensuring the country’s energy security. We will do it with all the safety, seriousness and transparency that we prioritize in all our projects”, said the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates.

According to the company’s 2024-2028 Strategic Plan, US$3.1 billion will be invested in exploratory activities in the Equatorial Margin. Under the same environmental license, Petrobras plans to drill the Anhangá well, in the POT-M-762 concession, 79km off the coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte and close to the Pitu Oeste well.

Pitu Oeste will be the third well in the BM-POT-17 concession and drilling is expected to take 3 to 5 months. The last well in this concession was drilled in 2015. The rig hired by Petrobras was in Guanabara Bay for hull cleaning and supply.