Digging Old Data to Drill New Wells

Abstract

Over its 63 years of history, Petrobras drilled around 27,000 wells in 30 sedimentary basins, mostly in Brazil, both onshore and offshore, gathering up a huge volume of data from all disciplines: geology, geophysics, petrophysics, drilling, reservoir and production engineering. This enormous data collection, internally called “the data mountain” represents a record of inestimable value for the knowledge and it is a key asset for the future of the Company. The information and knowledge acquired from this database gave birth to many discoveries made in Brazil and abroad, being responsible for a continuously growing oil production over the Company's history, departing from around 3,000 bbl/day in 1953 to more than 2.3 MMbbl/day in 2016. The current scenario of low oil prices pushed the Company back to the clipboard to revisit and review the database aiming at de-risking the exploratory projects to fit in this new economic reality of a growing demand for high performance efficiency and productivity. Full integration of disciplines and teams, from geoscientists and engineers to economists and market analysts is now required for intensively and extensively looking into the available data, information and knowledge and to use them as a powerful tool to bring the business onto the very beginning of the O&G value chain. In this sense, the conception of new exploratory wells must inevitably be based on a robust multidisciplinary approach, bringing to the exploratory process not only groups of exploration geoscientists, but also reservoir and production teams aiming at building consistent and profitable projects. As we say internally, the “mountain” must be dug.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90291 ©2017 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, April 2-5, 2017