The Brazilian pre-salt oil region, first explored in 2006 by Petrobras, is an oil-rich offshore reserve trapped below a 2,000m-thick layer of salt, which itself is located below 2,000m-thick post-salt sediments. In this special timeline feature, Offshore Technology looks at how Brazil’s pre-salt region has been developed and why it has recently attracted more investment from major oil firms.

It was announced that many of the major oil giants – including Shell, ExxonMobil, and BP – had come out on top in the fifth round auction for acreage in the Santos and Campos basins offshore Brazil. Pre-salt oil reserves in the basins contain 16.4 billion barrels of crude, according to Petrobras, and total production from the region is estimated at almost five billion barrels in 2025 alone.

Brazilian petroleum giant Petrobras first discovered pre-salt oil reserves in the Lula oil field in the Santos Basin in 2006, and drew its first oil from the Jubarte field in the Campos Basin two years later, in 2008. Since then, the pre-salt layer has proven to conceal larger oil reserves, in a series of consecutive discoveries.

At the time, US equity firm Riedel Research founder and president David Riedel described the pre-salt region as “one of the most impressive oil finds globally in terms of scale”.

• Brazil Oil and Gas Production by Region (States)
• Brazil Oil and Gas Production by Operators
• Brazil Oil and Gas Production by Concession
• Brazil Pre-salt Production by Field