BP Finds Major Oil, Gas Field Off Brazil

BP has announced that it has made its largest oil and gas discovery in 25 years in Brazil's Santos Basin—a so-called pre-salt area in deep water offshore believed to hold vast reservoirs of oil and gas, Yadarisa Shabong and Shadia Nasralla reported for Reuters.

BP expects production to be lower in 2025. I Photo: Can Pac Swire Flickr

BP returned its focus to fossil fuels last year in an effort to regain investor confidence and revive underperforming shares after a troubled push into renewable energy.

Its London-listed shares rose 1.4% in early trading. BP, which aims to grow its global oil and gas production to between 2.3 million and 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030, said this was its 10th discovery so far this year, following others in Trinidad, Egypt, Brazil, and elsewhere.

Production in 2024 was 2.4 million barrels of oil equivalent. BP expects production to be lower in 2025.

The oil major, which plans to establish a new production hub offshore Brazil, secured the block in December 2022 under what it described as “very good commercial terms.”

BP holds 100% participation in the Bumerangue block, with Brazil’s state-run company Pré-Sal Petróleo SA serving as the production-sharing contract manager.