MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

On-shore natural gas find could supply 30% of Brazil’s domestic demand

OGX CEO Paulo Mendonca: a new exploratory frontier in an onshore basin

Brazilian oil and gas company OGX said Monday that a new onshore field in the north-eastern state of Maranhao holds up to 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Seismic studies at the OGX-16 site in the Parnaiba basin indicate the field could produce around 15 million cubic feet per day, the company said in a statement.

That level of output would be roughly equal to 30% of total domestic demand, which averaged 49.7 million cubic feet per day in June, according to figures from the Abegas association representing gas distributors.

Given the size of the find in the PN-T-68 block, OGX now plans to drill 15 wells, instead of the seven it originally planned, and to undertake further geologic studies.

Carrying out the expanded plan will require an investment of as much as 700 million Reais (400 million USD), OGX says.

OGX Maranhao, in which OGX has a 67% interest, is the operator and holds a 70% stake in PN-T-68, while Petra Energia owns the remaining 30%.

“This discovery opens a new exploratory frontier in an onshore basin, the first in two decades,” OGX CEO Paulo Mendonca said last week in a regulatory filing with the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange.

Brazil extracts more than 90% of its oil and gas from offshore basins and has discovered massive crude reserves in recent years in a vast, ultra-deep frontier far below the ocean floor.

OGX, an oil and gas start-up that acquired its first concessions two years ago, has announced several deepwater discoveries in recent months.

Brazil’s largest private oil company is part of the Grupo EBX holding company, founded and headed by magnate Eike Batista.

Forbes magazine estimates Batista’s wealth at 27 billion USD and ranks him as the second-wealthiest man in Latin America and No. 8 worldwide.