BP still interested in Brazil
Posted: 20 June 2005
It has been reported that BP may end its exploration activities in two deep-water blocks off the coast of the northern Brazilian Amazon state of Amapa after investing some $300 million with partners there.
BP twice hit a dry well, the last time in December according to Paulo Pinho, BP Brazil's External Relations Director, as quoted by Dow Jones.Even if the company were to soon decide to withdraw from exploration activities off the mouth of the Amazon River, BP PLC (BP) would still stay interested in Brazil, a company official said Thursday.
In a drilling at the BFZ-2 block in 2001, BP had found small amounts of oil, but the volume was too little to consider it commercially viable. BP hasn't made a formal decision yet, whether it will return the two exploration blocks to the ANP, but a continuation of the company there seems increasingly unlikely.
"Due to the new dry well, the risk for investments has increased," Pinho said. "It is very expensive to operate in that basin, which is very large. There's no infrastructure in the region." The last dry well was at a depth of 5,600 meters, when counted from the water surface to the well. BP's operating base was in the Amazon port city of Belem, more than 500 kilometers away from the exploration drilling, increasing costs.
Pinho added that the company had little initial data about the Amazon mouth basin, and therefore it took a very long time to explore the area. But a possible withdrawal from the two blocks would not mean a retreat of BP from Brazil, Pinho said.
"We would still be interested in Brazil , and a team would stay on," he said, adding that the company would also continue its downstream activities in the country.
Posted by Editor Pipeline Magazine
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