The Giant Carcara Oil Field
The giant Carcara is a pre-salt oil and gas field located in the Santos basin offshore Brazil. It lies in water depths of 2027 meters and is one of the biggest discoveries in the world. It was discovered by Petrobras in 2012.
The oil reservoir lies in the pre-salt layer and its total thickness is more than 400 meters. It is estimated to contain recoverable reserves of more than one billion barrels of oil.
Operated by Equinor, oil production from the Carcara field is scheduled to start in 2024. Two FPSOs will be used to produce the oil and gas.
The Interesting Pre-Salt Basins
Oil was discovered in the Pre-Salt Basin in offshore Brazil in 2005. Oil-rich formations sit deep in the water and under thick layers of rock and salt.
Pre-salt basins were formed more than 100 million years ago when the South American and African continents separated, and therefore pre-salt layers are especially common off the coast of Africa and Brazil.
The hydrocarbon sits under layers of salt formations that are 2000 meters thick. The pre-salt production rates are some of the highest in the world for deepwater fields.
In Africa, the first pre-salt oil discoveries took place in Angola in 1983. The presence of pre-salt basins in eastern offshore Brazil and western offshore of Africa is proof that the South American and African continents were connected at one time.
This article was written by Jamin Djuang, a published author of “The Story of Oil and Gas: How Oil and Gas Are Explored, Drilled and Produced” for readers who have not seen an oil field.
