The Tupi field was Brazil’s first major pre-salt oil discovery, announced in 2006.
Petrobras discovered the field in October 2006 in the Santos Basin, about 250 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The reservoir lies beneath a thick layer of salt, as well as deep water and overlying rock. This difficult geology explains the name “pre-salt”: the oil-bearing rocks are below the salt layer rather than above it.
Tupi became a turning point for Brazil’s petroleum industry. Initial estimates suggested at least several billion barrels of recoverable oil, potentially transforming Brazil’s reserves and making the country a major offshore producer. First crude from a test well followed in 2009.
A frequent source of confusion is the field’s name. It was renamed Lula in 2010, in reference to then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but is commonly identified historically as the Tupi field and has been referred to again as Tupi. Jupiter was a later discovery, while Libra is a separate pre-salt area.