El Paso- camarao field to unitize

Camamu-Almada basin block to be relinquished

Sep 21, 2009

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 21 -- A group led by Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) plans to relinquish the B-CAM-40 exploration block to Brazil's Agencia Nacional do Petroleo (ANP).

No further exploration is planned on the Camamu-Almada basin block, whose exploration license has expired, said Norse Energy Corp. ASA, Oslo, which holds 10% interest. Petrobras holds 35% interest, and Brazil's Queiroz Galvao Perfuracao holds 55%.

Production from Manati gas-condensate field on the block reached a record 7.13 million cu m/day on Sept. 17. Output had averaged 5.23 million cu m/day so far in the current quarter, and the record was made possible by the completion of maintenance at a fertilizer plant that takes the field's gas, Norse said.

Norse expects production to stabilize above 6 million cu m/day for the rest of 2009 and increase further in 2010 (OGJ Online, Jan. 22, 2007).

Meanwhile, the 2001 Camarao Norte discovery, 9 km south of Manati field, which extends into the BM-CAL-4 block held 100% by El Paso Corp., is to be unitized, and unitization discussions will occur within months.

Reservoirs at Camarao Norte, formerly BAS-131, are in Upper Jurassic Sergi sandstones, same as at Manati. Norse estimates its 10% share of recoverable oil and gas at 12.4 million boe. The field is a 17 sq km ring-fenced area in 40 m of water.

El Paso declared commerciality of the field in the BM-CAL-4 block and proposed the name of Camarao.

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