The first stage of the campaign began last month and will last about a year and a half, costing around US$36.66 million.

Brazilian oil company Eneva has launched a natural gas exploration campaign in the Parana basin that could lead to the company's entry into the carbon capture market, a company official told Reuters .

The first stage of the campaign began last month and will last about a year and a half, costing about 200 million reais ($36.66 million), said Frederico Miranda, director of exploration, fields and low-carbon technologies at Eneva.

During this phase, the company will also look for salt deposits that can be used for carbon dioxide capture and storage projects, Miranda said.

"We will be looking for natural gas, but all the information we get can also be used to evaluate the carbon capture and storage project," Miranda said.

The company is in talks with ethanol industry players located near the Paraná Basin and interested in decarbonizing their activities, Miranda said.

Miranda said that prospecting only for carbon capture and storage projects in the Paraná Basin might not have been profitable, but the search for gas brought more value to the project.

The company expects to begin drilling in 2027, which would make Eneva the first company to do so in the basin in more than two decades, according to data from the regulatory agency ANP.