Kjetil Solbraekke / Oil & Gas Financial Journal
The Brazilian E&P industry is fighting to maintain its position as one of the most attractive places for E&P investments. Production from Brazilian pre-salt reservoirs is already surpassing one million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) and is expected to continue to grow and pass two million boe/d by 2020. However, almost all of this production is from licenses that were awarded 15 years ago. As such, the post-salt production lacks focus and new investments. Only the Libra round has been offering licenses in the pre-salt area since.
Currently, Mexico is drilling more wells offshore in 2016 and 2017 than Brazil. Looking ahead, we still estimate there will be more wells drilled in Brazil than in Mexico, however these numbers can be heavily influenced by further delays in new rounds in Brazil or an even more positive anticipation of new rounds in Mexico.