Report: Brazil finding some dry offshore wells

RIO DE JANEIRO - About 32 percent of wells drilled so far in a promising find off Brazil's coast are dry or not commercially viable, a business newspaper reported Tuesday.

Valor Economico — citing figures from Brazil's national petroleum agency — reported that nine of 28 wells drilled in the Santos and Campos basins were either dry or not commercially viable.

Valor reports that figure is near the average global failure rate for the oil industry of 25 to 30 percent, but it is disappointing for Petrobras. Company officials have in the past said the so-called pre-salt area as likely to have a much higher success rate.

Earlier this month, U.S. oil company Hess Corporation said it came up with a dry well in Santos.

After news of that first dry well, Petrobras issued a July 10 statement saying that "the six blocs operated by the company in the Santos basin showed a success rate of 100 percent." The company added, however, that "in all oil exploration activity, there exists the risk that a well will be dry."

A Petrobras spokesman said the company had no immediate comment on the Valor report.

Shares of Petroleo Brasileiro SA dropped 2.2 percent on the local stock exchange Tuesday afternoon.

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