Abstract Investment projects are the primary vehicle for companies to achieve their goals, maximize the value of its shares by generating value. It is therefore important that the resources allocated to projects are used efficiently and that the promise of value of each project is met according to plan. In response to this need, it was proposed to implement a project management system in the Vice-presidency of Exploration, Ref 1, based on international standards, industry best practices and definition of deliverables to achieve a continuous improvement process designed to develop more efficient exploration projects. Implementation of the proposed management system for exploration activities has shown strong benefits, as evidenced in the systematic measurements of the FEL index over the past 5 years. This paper presents an account of the FEL measurements of exploratory wells from 2006 to 2010 and its corresponding analysis considering the sustainability of the model's application in time, the benefits in terms of time, costs and characterization that determines the FEL index measurement. Because of the confidentiality of information, for purposes of this article the names of projects were omitted were omitted and the figures are presented as monetary and time units.