The Pelotas Basin: A Rising Global Exploration Hotspot

The Pelotas Basin in south east Brazil is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s most promising regions for hydrocarbon exploration. This paper examines the impact of the recent exploration successes in its geological conjugate, the Namibian Orange Basin, where multi-billion-barrel discoveries have been made over the past four years. The success in the Orange Basin is particularly significant in addressing key uncertainties related to source rock presence and maturation, as well as reservoirs in the Pelotas Basin. Shearwater, in collaboration with Searcher Seismic, is leveraging critical insights from the Orange Basin to unlock the exploration potential of the Pelotas Basin. Seismic analysis clearly identifies striking similarities between the two basins within the Early Cretaceous target interval, helping to derisk key uncertainties related to source rock and reservoir presence. Similar to the Orange Basin, quantitative interpretation techniques have shown potential AVO anomalies, providing valuable guidance for prospect identification.