New insights into the Parnaíba Basin: results of investments by the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency

Abstract

AbstractThe Parnaíba Basin is a Paleozoic cratonic basin located in NE Brazil. Despite exploration in the Parnaíba Basin having undergone a long period of stagnation, it is now one of the most prolific natural gas producing basins in Brazil. Production from this basin is c. 5.6 million m3 day−1 from three established gas fields, with another four fields in development and eight ongoing discovery assessment plans (in January 2017). This success is the result of activity on exploration concessions, both the investments of the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) and concessionaires operating in the basin. ANP's investments were decisive in the definition of the offered areas in the bid rounds and, more importantly, in our understanding of the structural and stratigraphic framework through systematic data acquisition, which helped to define an exploration model for the basin. The Parnaíba Basin received investments of c. US $100 million from ANP and the preliminary results from projects located in the SE of the basin suggest the need for a new exploration model for this area, which was probably affected by the Trans Brazilian Lineament. In this model, the petroleum system would include Ordovician–Silurian components.