Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell found more evidence of oil at a project in Brazil’s offshore Campos basin where the company has increased production faster than expected. Shell made the discovery at the Nautilus field, which is 1571.75 metres (5157 feet) deep, the Brazilian petroleum regulator said. The field, in Block BC-10, was declared a commercial find in December 2005, Bloomberg reported. Companies including Shell, Chevron and Galp Energia have boosted production this year in Brazil’s Atlantic waters, where state-run Petrobras made the largest oil discovery in the Americas since 1976 at the Tupi field.
Shell has brought production on line at BC-10 faster than it expected, Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said in a conference call with investors 28 April. “It’s one of their priority projects going forward,” Evgeny Solovyoy, an analyst at Societe Generale who has a “buy” recommendation on Shell, said in a telephone interview from London. “Brazil is very important and will remain so for Shell.”
The Hague-based Shell produced 85,000 barrels per day at BC- 10, also known as Parque das Conchas, in January, spokesman Jaryl Strong said 14 March. The company is using a vessel that can process 100,000 barrels of crude and 50 million cubic metres of natural gas per day at the block.
