Rosneft Brasil (100% owned Rosneft subsidiary) started the drilling of the first exploration well in the Solimoes Basin, the company reported on February 16, 2017.
Rosneft is commencing the next phase of the exploration program in the Amazon region as operator following its purchase of PetroRio’s interest in 2015.
The Company expects to perform the drilling and well testing and evaluation in Q2 2017.
Rosneft Brasil is planning to drill at least 4 wells within the upcoming exploration drilling campaign with the scope of obtaining valuable geological information to determine the hydrocarbon resource potential of the Solimões Basin.
The Solimões project establishes Rosneft as an operator in Brazil, a country with major upstream growth opportunities both onshore and offshore.
Rosneft continues to evaluate oil and gas monetization options for the Solimões Project.
The Solimões blocks cover an area of approximately 37 000 sq. km. The project includes 18 license blocks.
Blocks contain 11 discovered accumulations of hydrocarbons, which have been evaluated by D&M resulting in an estimate of 666 mmboe of contingent resources (of which 95% is natural gas) and prospective oil resources 371 mmbbl and prospective gas resources 1206 mmboe.
In May 2015 Rosneft Brasil and PetroRio completed the signing of the Rosneft Brasil transaction to acquire PetroRio’s 55% in the Solimões project.
The transaction resulted in Rosneft assuming formal operatorship of the project and holding 100% interest.