Petrobras Confirms Oil at Morpho Well Off Amapa, Volume Still Unknown

Petrobras confirmed the discovery of oil at the Morpho well in the Foz do Amazonas basin off the coast of Amapa, chief executive Magda Chambriard said on August 17, without an estimate of how much crude the reservoir holds.

The well sits about 175 kilometres from the Amapa coast in block FZA-M-59, in ultra-deep waters of the Foz do Amazonas basin, at a water depth of roughly 2,800 metres. Drilling has yet to be completed, and technicians need to advance further before they can pin down the characteristics of the reservoir.

"There is oil, there is a discovery, we still do not know how much," Chambriard said at an event in Amapa attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. She added that Petrobras will keep investing and exploring in Amapa.

Drilling should finish in the next 15 to 20 days, after which the company will open a delimitation phase to measure the extent and recoverable volume of the reservoir. Before any decision on development, Petrobras must establish the size of the reserve, the quality of the oil, and the technical and economic conditions for eventual production.

The confirmation follows an August 14 announcement by Petrobras that hydrocarbons had been identified during drilling of the area.

For a global crude market watching Brazil's supply trajectory, the relevant signal is replacement barrels rather than any immediate volume. Around 80% of the oil produced in the country currently comes from the pre-salt, and Chambriard said pre-salt output should reach its production peak between 2034 and 2035. Petrobras states that the search for new reserves gained importance given the expected future decline in pre-salt production. Brazil is currently the seventh-largest oil producer in the world.

That arithmetic explains the drilling programme now queued behind Morpho. Petrobras plans three more wells in the same block, contingent on new environmental authorisations, plus five others in adjacent areas. The company has asked IBAMA for the licence required to drill three additional wells on the equatorial margin. It intends to widen its work across the Equatorial Margin, with further wells aimed at identifying the extent of the reserves and assessing production potential.

Permitting remains the gating factor on that sequence. The federal government and Petrobras argue the research is necessary and hold that any exploration stage must follow environmental requirements and the licensing process.

Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said the discovery is crucial to guaranteeing Brazil's energy sovereignty in the coming years. Lula restated the need to advance decarbonisation of the energy mix while keeping control over the country's natural resources. At the Amapa event, the president praised the support of Senate President Davi Alcolumbre on government priorities, and cited bills moving through Congress including the security constitutional amendment and the regulation of critical minerals.

"There is no future for an oil company without exploration," Chambriard said.