British company BP has discovered a giant oil and gas reservoir via deep-sea drilling off the coast of Brazil.
The reservoir was discovered in BP’s Bumerangue deepwater exploration area, 400km from Rio de Janeiro, where the sea is about 2,400 metres deep.
A well drilled by BP vessel Valaris DS-15 hit on the reservoir at a depth of around 500 metres under the seabed. According to preliminary analysis, the reservoir is at east 500 metres deep and may extend over an area of more than 300 square kilometres, the company said.
“We are excited to announce this significant discovery, BP’s largest in 25 years,” said Gordon Birrell, the group’s executive vice president in charge of productions and operations, on August 4.
“This is another success in what has been an exceptional year so far for our exploration team.”
The find in the Bumerangue area is the 10th oil and gas discovery by BP this year alone – with new reservoirs discovered in the Gulf of Mexico, Egypt, Libya, Trinidad and other places.
The streak of new discoveries followed a fundamental group strategy reset in February. At the time, BP announced it was scrapping its strategic aim to grow in renewable energies in favour of focusing on fossil fuels and thus, it said, increasing shareholder value.
BP CEO Murray Auchincloss announced that month that BP would cut renewable investment by 70 per cent while increasing oil and gas spending by 20 per cent with the goal of creating ten major oil and gas projects by 2027.
Previously, BP had vowed in 2020 to cut its oil and gas output by 40 per cent by 2030.
The landmark discovery off the Brazilian coast puts BP in a good position to establish a significant production hub in Brazil’s offshore sector, potentially reshaping its global upstream footprint in the years ahead, according to news portal Oilprice.com on August 4.
It may, though, still take a considerable time until the newly discovered reservoir could be be tapped into.
On X, commodity analyst Alexander Stahel of Swiss investment company Burggraben Holding called the find “huge” but added it “will only matter in 10-15 years to replace some existing production”.
Financial markets reacted positively to the news. On the London Stock Exchange, BP stocks rose by about 3 per cent, reaching their highest price level since early April.
