Shell Initiates Production In Pre-Salt Brazilian Oil Field

European oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) RDS.A recently announced that its Brazilian subsidiary BG E&P Brasil and partners in Lula South began production in the deepwater field in the pre-salt Santos Basin, off Brazil.

The company went online with floating production and storage offloading vessel (FPSO) – P-66 – capable of extracting 150,000 barrels of oil and 212 million cubic feet of natural gas daily. It is the first FPSO owned by the BM-S-11 consortium and seventh unit of Lula field. P-66 vessel is Shell’s 10th deepwater FPSO in operation in the pre-salt areas of Santos basin. Shell operates two additional FPSOs offshore Brazil. The company plans to invest in more standardized deep-water vessels over the next three years in Brazil.

Shell has a 25% stake in the consortium developing the Lula field in the BM-S-11 block. Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) is the chief operator of the field with a 65% stake and Petrogal Brasil holds the remaining 10% interest.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Headquartered in Netherlands, Shell is one of the largest integrated energy companies and is engaged in production, refining, distribution and marketing of oil and natural gas. Shell, operating under the Zacks categorized Oil & Gas-International Integrated industry, currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Royal Dutch Shell PLC Price

Some better-ranked players from the broader energy sector include Delek Logistics Partners, L.P. (NYSE:DKL) and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TO:CNQ) . Both the firms sport a Zacks Rank # 1(Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Delek Logistics is expected to deliver year over year growth of 16.1% in its earnings in 2017.

Canadian Natural Resources is expected to post year over year growth of 720% in its earnings in 2017.

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