Royal Dutch Shell’s Brazil subsidiary secures four deep-water blocks

March 30 (UPI) — Royal Dutch Shell’s Brazilian subsidiary secured four deep-water exploration blocks off the country’s coast, the company announced.

Shell Brasil Petroleo said Thursday it will operate in two of the four locations. The company made one bid on its own and jointly submitted the other three applications with Chevron Brazil, Petrobras, and Petrogal Brasil to the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency.

One of the blocks is in the Campos basin, while the other three locations are in the Potiguar basin, Shell said. The company will pay about $70 million in signing bonuses for the projects.

Brazil has more proven oil reserves than any South American nation except for Venezuela.

“We continue to demonstrate our commitment to growing our production in Brazil and our strong belief in the value deep-water resources brings to our global portfolio,” said Andy Brown, Shell’s Upstream Director. “This bid round offers significant potential for additional deep-water discoveries. These lease commitments fall within our agreed capital ceiling and are consistent with our value-based approach.”

Other energy companies are increasingly tapping into Brazil’s resources as well. Data released in December indicated that as of August 2017, Brazil had passed its 2016 mark for barrels of oil and other petroleum liquids produced per day.

The same month, Norwegian energy company Statoil committed to tripling its production capacity there and French company Total said it would double down on investments offshore Brazil.