By the end of 1979, a total of 307,929 km of seismic lines, 309,709 km of aeromagnetic profiles, and 94,067 km of gravity profiles had been surveyed offshore Brazil for oil exploration purposes. Drilling 452 exploratory wells resulted in a success ratio of 1:5.6. Recoverable reserves of 116.2 10⁶ cu m of oil and 20.9 10⁹ cu m of gas were discovered.

At present, the following aspects related to oil in offshore Brazil can be highlighted: oil fields have been discovered in all basins from Ceara to Campos; important source rocks occur in lacustrine shales of the rift stage; despite the presence of deep Tertiary depocenters, significant discoveries related to deltaic sediments are lacking; primary porosity in Cretaceous sandstones decreases sharply with depth; nevertheless, in some basins, development of secondary porosity is inferred at depths of about 4,000 m; a combination of structural, stratigraphic and paleogeomorphic factors control the accumulation in several oil fields; and, oil exploration offshore Brazil has proved economically attractive, despite the relatively small size of the oil fields as compared to the ones found in ighly prolific oil provinces.