ABSTRACT: The Linguado, Carapeba, Vermelho, and Marimba Giant Oil Fields, Campos Basin, Offshore Brazil

Carlos Varela Stank, Fernando Roberto Esteves, Celso Carlos Martins, Wagner Maia Cruz, Alberto Da Silva Barroso, Paulo Marcio C. Horschutz

About 40 hydrocarbon accumulations have been discovered in the Campos basin in the period 1978-1984, including four giant fields in shallow to moderate water depths.

The Linguado oil field is located on the extreme south of the producing area of the Campos basin in water depths ranging from 95 to 110 m (312 to 361 ft). The pool was discovered by the wildcat 1-RJS-49 in May 1978. The reservoir rocks occur between -1700 and -3000 m (-5580 and -9840 ft), and are constituted by fractured Neocomian basalts, Barremian pelecypod coquinas, Albian oolitic calcarenites, and, secondarily, by some Cretaceous turbidite sandstones. The main reservoir is formed by coquinas, which contain 76% of the total recoverable oil volume estimated at 104.6 million bbl. The field is located on a regional high and the accumulation is strongly controlled by stratigraphic and diagenetic factors. High-quality oil (30° API) is produced through a floating producing system (F S), and the cumulative oil production amounts to 63.8 million bbl.

The Carapeba and Vermelho oil fields are situated in the northern limit of the Campos basin producing area and, together with the smaller Pargo field, make up the so-called Northeast Pole of Campos basin. Carapeba field was discovered in February 1982 by the wildcat 1-RJS-193, and has an estimated recoverable oil volume of 127.8 million bbl. Production comes mainly from two Upper Cretaceous turbidite sandstone reservoirs. The Vermelho field was discovered by the wildcat 1-RJS-241 in December 1982, and its main reservoir is formed by a massive Eocene turbidite sandstone. The estimated recoverable oil volume amounts to 119.7 million bbl. Both Carapeba and Vermelho fields are structural traps associated with the development of subtle anticlines caused by salt movements. The fields are gr dually being put on stream through five fixed platforms installed in water depths ranging from 70 to 90 m (229 to 295 ft).

The Marimba field, discovered in March 1984, by the wildcat 1-RJS-284, drilled in a water depth of 383 m (1256 ft), is considered the first deep-water oil strike in the Campos basin. The field has an estimated recoverable oil volume of 115 million bbl of good-quality (28° API) oil trapped under structural-stratigraphic conditions in highly permeable Upper Cretaceous turbidite sandstones. The Marimba field has not been developed yet, but an FPS is producing about 20,000 BOPD from four exploratory wells completed in water depths ranging from 383 to 485 m (1256 to 1591 ft).

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91000©1990 AAPG Conference-Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade 1978-1988 Conference, Stavanger, Norway, September 9-12, 1990