Petrobras invests US$130mn to drill ever deeper

Brazil's federal energy company Petrobras is investing US$130mn to develop exploration and production technology in offshore wells at depths between 2,000 and 3,000m, newspaper Gazeta Mercantil reported. Petrobras is a world leader in exploration of deepwater wells and has the technology to make production feasible in wells up to 2,000m below the sea surface. The current production record is the 1,886m Roncador I field in the Campos basin and the company has already drilled wells 2,243m below the seabed, Gazeta Mercantil said. About 66% of the company's oil production comes from wells 300m deep or more and half of that is in wells at depths of 1,500m or more. The company expects that 50% of new reserves will be in deep water fields, the newspaper said.