Videocon confirms presence of crude oil in Brazil block
Videocon has confirmed the presence of high quality crude oil in the hydrocarbon rich asset called Farfan
Mumbai: Videocon Industries Ltd informed the stock exchanges on Tuesday that Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras)—its partner in the deepwater field off the coast of Brazil—has confirmed the presence of high-quality crude oil in the Farfan field.
The confirmation came from Petrobras on Monday when it announced the results of the third appraisal well as part of the drilling programme of the Farfan discovery, a hydrocarbon reservoir in the Sergipe Alagoas basin.
Appraisal wells are drilled to identify the potential of the resources after a discovery is made in a concession area or a basin allotted to a hydrocarbon firm.
The current appraisal well drilled in the concession area BM-SEAL-11is the third in a row to have established the presence of high-quality crude oil, commonly known as light sweet oil. The first and second appraisal wells were drilled in October 2013 and January 2015, according to the earlier announcements by Petrobras.
The Farfan discovery was made by Perobras in August 2013.
While Petrobras holds 60% participating interest in the block and is also the operator, Videocon, along with its joint venture partner, the overseas subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd, holds the remaining 40% stake.
At 10:10 am, shares of Videocon were trading at ₹ 176.70, up 11.69%, while BPCL was trading at ₹ 747, down 0.15%. The benchmark Sensex was up 0.3% at 29,131.75 points.
The note issued by Videocon to the exchanges said the appraisal well also discovered additional reserves of light crude oil. This is the second such additional discovery after 9 January when the company announced a similar discovery in its second appraisal well.
D. Rajkumar, who is the managing director of Bharat Petro Resources Ltd — BPCL’s foreign subsidiary — had said in an interview in September that while crude prices are falling, investments in the Brazilian asset will not be curtailed as they hold light oil, which is currently imported into Brazil.
“Therefore, the government in Brazil is interested to develop the Brazilian light oil resources so that it can cut its import bill," he had said.
Brent crude oil — the light sweet benchmark crude oil produced in the the North Sea — settled at $54.75 per barrel on Monday.
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