Rio de Janeiro, August 22, 2012 - Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras announces that it has completed drilling the first appraisal well in the area of the Appraisal Plan (PAD) of Barra, in deep waters of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. The 3-SES-165 well, informally known as Barra 1, is located some 100 km off the coast of the city of Aracaju, in the State of Sergipe, at a water depth of 2,433 meters and approximately 10 km southeast of the wildcat well 1-SES-158 (Barra).

The purposes of the drilling of Barra 1 was to verify the southeast extension of gas accumulation discovered by the wildcat well, in sandstones of the upper section of Calumbi Formation, and to investigate the continuity, in the same direction, of oil saturated sandy reservoirs in the lower section of Calumbi Formation found on 1-SES-158 well.

Both purposes were met which resulted in the delimitation of Barra accumulation, as already estimated, and in the verification of the southeast continuity of the oil saturated reservoirs in the lower section. Such reservoirs are distributed in intervals of 5460 to 5500 meters, where the saturation of light oil found with 38o API.

Petrobras is the operator of BM-SEAL-11 concession (60%) in partnership with IBV Brasil (40%).  The consortium shall continue the operations in the area in order to confirm the extension of the new discovery and characterize reservoir conditions encountered.