BG appoints new Brazilian CEO

BG has appointed Vale's former CEO, Fabio de Oliveira Barbosa, as the new chief of finance. Barbosa will replace Ashley Almanza, CEO for eight years, on March 31st. The appointment was announced shortly after the company boosted estimates for its oil and gas prospects in Brazil.

Almanza is expected to complete ongoing projects before leaving office. Alongside the company's Chief Executive Frank Chapman, Almanza oversaw BG grown into a multinational giant with an estimated market capitalization of £72 billion.

According to a company spokeswoman the departure was “initiated by Ashley and his desire to leave the company in a well-managed manner." She added that Amanza would leave within two years.

BG is expected to spend in the region of several billion to develop its share of offshore fields in Brazil's Santos Basin. In November, the company raised gross resource estimates from the Tupi, Iracema, and Guara fields by 34 per cent to 10.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Barbosa, who stepped down from his position at Vale in June to “pursue new professional challenges”, had previously worked as Brazil's national treasury secretary.

“He has extensive financial leadership experience with one of the world's largest resources companies,” said BG Chairman Sir Robert Wilson.

“Fabio's skills and experience will be invaluable as the group enters its next decade of growth,” Chapman added.

Sources: Bloomberg, The Evening Standard, Dow Jones

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BG Group confirms success of new well

BG Group has issued an official statement confirming the success of a new well, named Tupi Alto, on block BM-S-11 in the Santos Basin pre-salt, offshore Brazil. The Tupi Alto well is one of seven successful wells in the Tupi cluster and further confirms presence of light oil. The well, drilled by partners Petrobras, BG Group and Galp is located in the Tupi evaluation area, approximately 275 km from Rio de Janeiro.

The area has been tested by Wireline, who have verified presence of light oil at approximately 30° API and said that the reservoir properties were very good across the key Sag reservoir. The statistics collected from Tupi Alto and other wells; support the estimates which indicate potential to generate up to five to eight billion barrels of recoverable light oil and natural gas from the Tupi pre-salt reservoirs.

“The Tupi Alto well, in conjunction with the trend seen in previous Tupi appraisal wells, has confirmed excellent reservoir properties over a wide area in the Tupi field. Appraisal results continue to confirm the reservoir models in Tupi, Iracema and Guara by giving better definition in crestal areas and on the flanks of the fields. The results continue to de-risk the production outlook for these assets and allow us to optimise field development planning and capital efficiency,” said, BG Group chief executive, Frank Chapman.

To find out more about the BG Group please visit their web site, which you can find here.

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