Perla gas field
Perla is a giant offshore natural gas field in the Gulf of Venezuela, about 50 km south of Gela in the Cardon IV block, in water about 60 m deep and spanning roughly 33 sq km. It was discovered in 1976, with exploration activity in 2009. The Pearl-1 well found a 60 m hydrocarbon column capable of about 600,000 m3/d of gas and 500 bpd of condensate. Wells Pearl-2, Pearl-3 and Pearl-4 produced progressively larger gas flows and condensates: Pearl-2 about 1.4 million m3/d of gas and 1,500 bpd condensate; Pearl-3 about 1.9 million m3/d and 1,350 bpd; Pearl-4 about 480,000 m3/d and 560 bpd. In total, Perla holds around 16.3 trillion cubic feet (460 billion cubic metres) of gas in place.
Development plans for Phase I include light offshore platforms and a pipeline to an onshore central processing facility, with Phase I costing about US$1.4 billion. The field is being developed by a 50/50 consortium of Repsol YPF and Eni, with Foster Wheeler handling front-end loading. It was expected to come onstream in the first half of 2013, under a development contract that runs through 2036. The producing formation is Lower Jurassic shelf limestone.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 05:39 (CET).