Brazil Oil & Gas and Marine Highlights from DIT

30 May 2019

Anglo-Dutch supermajor Royal Dutch Shell has plans to invest $2 billion a year in activities in Brazil, by 2025. The strategy was revealed in an interview with CEO Ben van Beurden published by Brazilian newspaper Valor Econômico. The company acquired Brazilian oil and gas assets for $500 million in the past two years, and sees opportunity to expand in the hydrocarbons, biofuels and solar energy sectors. [Kallanish Energy]

In addition to the mentioned above, Shell also forecasts FPSO of 90,000 barrels per day in Gato do Mato by 2023. The company is planning to install a Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) type mooring anchorage in the area of the exploratory block BM-S-54, where the discovery is known as Gato do Mato, in the pre-salt of the Santos Basin. The discovery, which will be developed in conjunction with the southern exploration block of Gato do Mato, is expected to begin production in the third quarter of 2023 with a platform vessel with capacity for 90,000 barrels per day of oil and 8.5 million m3 per day of natural gas. [Brazil Energy Insight]

Petrobras and BW Offshore begin preparations for first oil from the deepwater discovery in Sergipe. The Farfan Long Duration Test (LDT),in the ultra-deep waters of the Sergipe Basin will be put into operation at the beginning of the second semester, between August and September. The activity will mark the first production campaign for the discovery of light oil made by Petrobras. [Brazil Energy]

Brazilian oil company Petrobras has awarded McDermott a contract for the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of subsea risers and flowlines for the first phase of the Sepia field, offshore Brazil. McDermott said that the contract was a significant one. Under the contract, McDermott will engineer, survey, supply, install and pre-commission rigid pipelines, jumpers, buoyancy modules, strakes, and riser monitoring systems for seven-riser wells (3 producers and 4 injector wells) connected to the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) Carioca vessel. [Offshore Energy Today]

Brazilian innovation attracts international attention from the oil sector in OTC Houston 2019. A sponge that absorbs oil in cases of spillage and allows it to be reused, data analysis to give greater speed and safety for the projects, fully digital reproduction of platforms that allow to monitor on land how are the structures at sea, and technology that provides technical problems up to 14 days in advance.These were some of the innovative Brazilian solutions that caught the attention of buyers and international partners during OTC Houston, the world's largest oil and gas fair. [T&B Petroleum]

The decommissioning market for offshore platforms in Brazil begins to tinker with the maritime support segment. Bidders to the contract to withdraw fixed platforms from Cação field in the Campos Basin are seeking PSVs, FSVs (personal transport) and heavy lifts (boats with crane to lift jackets). The service is scheduled to start in March 2020. The Call for Tender for Cação provides for the removal of all surface equipment and materials, such as gangways, cranes, topsides and jackets, as well as materials identified with the presence of naturally occurring radiation (NORM). The deadline for submission of proposals is June 3. In addition to the PCA-1, 2 and 3, Petrobras has seven decommissioning projects at an advanced stage of detail: the FPSOs of Rio das Ostras, Rio de Janeiro, Piranema and P-XXXIII and semi-submersibles P-VII, P -XII and P-XV. The last four must be auctioned by the state. [Brazil Energy Insight]