Cachalote is an offshore oil field located in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

.
/ref> The field was discovered in November 2002 and is estimated to contain 350,000,000 barrels (56,000,000 m3) of heavy

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

, with a gravity of 20°. The oil field is operated by the Brazilian state-owned oil company,

Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by and Trade name, trading as the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a Brazilian state-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. ...

. Plans to develop the oil field were delayed due to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. In June 2008, SBM Offshore secured a letter of intent from Petrobras for the construction of a floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel to be used on the Cachalote field. The FPSO, named Capixaba, was scheduled to begin production on the field in 2010. However, the FPSO ultimately operated on a different field, and production on Cachalote has yet to resume. As of 2021, the status of the Cachalote field remains unclear. Petrobras has faced significant financial challenges in recent years, including a corruption scandal and declining oil prices. These factors, along with increasing competition in the global oil market and regulatory hurdles, may impact the company's ability to develop and produce from its existing reserves, including the Cachalote field.

References

Oil fields of Brazil Campos Basin Petrobras oil and gas fields {{brazil-geo-stub