BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 10. QatarEnergy has secured seven offshore exploration blocks in Brazil, the company said on October 8.
QatarEnergy, in partnership with Brazil's Petrobras, has won seven offshore oil and gas exploration blocks in Brazil's 6th Concession Open Acreage Bid Round, organized by the country's National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP).
The blocks — CE-M-471, CE-M-473, CE-M-475, CE-M-477, CE-M-537, CE-M-539 and CE-M-665 — are located in the Ceará Basin, along Brazil's Equatorial Margin off the country's northeastern coast.
“Under the partnership, QatarEnergy will hold a 30% participating interest in the blocks, while Petrobras, which will serve as operator, will own the remaining 70%,” the company said.
QatarEnergy President and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs, said the successful bids would add prospective acreage to the company's upstream portfolio in Brazil.
He also thanked Petrobras for its partnership, as well as ANP and Brazilian authorities for their support, expressing the company's intention to further strengthen cooperation and work with stakeholders to advance exploration activities.
The concession contracts are expected to be signed in the first half of 2027, QatarEnergy said.
The seven blocks cover a combined area of approximately 4,700 square kilometers, with water depths ranging from around 2,000 to 3,600 meters.
The Ceará Basin is located in northeastern Brazil, specifically along the Equatorial Margin. Extending to the 3,000-meter bathymetric contour, the basin covers approximately 63,000 square kilometers, of which around 52,000 square kilometers are offshore.
Although the basin produces oil and natural gas in shallow waters, it is classified as a frontier basin because its deepwater and ultra-deepwater sections remain relatively underexplored. The first deepwater discovery was made in 2012 through the drilling of the 1-BRSA-1080-CES (Pecém) well.
A marine geochemical survey using piston-core sampling was conducted in the basin, identifying various anomalies in marine sediments indicative of thermogenic gas mixed with shallow biogenic gas. Biomarker analysis showed that the organic matter was of marine origin. The survey also helped identify areas of the basin with more favorable conditions for oil and/or natural gas accumulation.
The areas identified by the survey are located mainly near the Sobral–Pedro II lineament and the extension of the Atlântico High toward the Ceará High.
