The Brazilian pre-salt bonanza has now officially begun, with Norway’s Statoil and partners announcing production of the first oil and gas from the offshore Gavea field in Brazil—part of the largest-ever oil and gas discovery in the Campos Basin’s pre-salt layer. The project is controlled by state-run Petrobras, but Statoil holds a 35 percent interest and will assume the role of operator later this year, while other partners include Spain’s Repsol and Chinese Sinopec. Statoil said the test well drilled on the site was at a depth of 6,230 meters, and when tests were launched it produced 4,000 barrels of crude per day and 16 million standard cubic feet of natural gas. It’s quite a promising result in what is considered Brazil’s richest oil and gas area. Pre-salt oil and gas deposits are attractive because wells in this layer tend to yield more crude oil than other offshore wells. […]