The Espírito Santo Basin reveals a very similar geological history to the Campos and Santos basins, to the extent that these three basins behaved practically as one major province (“The Greater Campos Basin”). As part of the province, it has the same good quality source rocks in the basin, lacustrine (Upper Barremian) and marine (Albian-Cenomanian and Tertiary), which serves to broaden the oil generation window and the possible time range to allow charge into multiple reservoirs. However, it has distinct large-scale geological features as the delta system related to the Rio Doce River, the Abrolhos igneous rocks and the large differential subsidence formed by the withdrawal of salt. The most important reservoirs of this system are the Upper Cretaceous sandstones turbidites, ranging in age from Albian to Maastrichtian. They are well sorted and present good porosity and permeability values.

Currently there are 43 production fields in the basin, providing an average production rate of 38 Mbbl/day of oil and ~5.0 MMm³/day of gas, which makes the 5th largest Brazilian oil producer. The burial and thermal history experienced by the source and reservoir rocks created accumulations with different hydrocarbon types, mixtures and preservation.

The studies represent a good integrated set of data that provide valuable insights into the plays of the Espirito Santo Basin.