19/05 / 2017 ABEGAS
The ANP has been for more than three years without issuing permits for the operation of new gas pipelines in the country. The last authorization was issued in February 2014 for the facilities of the LNG Regasification Terminal of Bahia, a Petrobras project that has a pipeline of 43 km with dispatch capacity of 14 million m³ / day.
Construction permits for gas pipelines have been shut down for almost three years between December 2013 and November 2016. The last authorized construction was the maritime stretch of Route 3, which will link the onerous assignment areas in the Santos Basin pre-salt to Comperj, in Itaboraí (RJ). Before that, the agency had authorized the construction of the Guapimirim-Comperj stretch, a project that was not completed and is currently dependent on the resumption of the works at the Petrochemical Complex scheduled for the second half of 2017.
Between 1998 and September 2016, only 16 companies received authorization for construction or operation of gas pipelines in Brazil. According to the most recent data available by the agency, 216 permits for the construction of gas pipelines and 230 permits for operation were granted in the period. Of these, however, three were revoked (two of construction and one of operation).
The company with the largest number of authorizations is the Malhas Sudeste Nordeste Consortium, made up of the Nova Carrier Sudeste, Transpetro, Transportadora Associada de Gas and Nova Transportadora do Nordeste, all of which are owned by Petrobras. The oil company itself received 48 authorizations, with Transpetro having 37.
The scenario may change from now on with the Federal Government-led GAS TO GROW program, which has among its guidelines, the promotion of non-discriminatory third party access to outflow pipelines, UPGNs and regasification terminals, as well as reinforcing the separation between the activities of production and marketing of transportation and distribution activities.
Today, faced with the increase in the supply of gas producing areas with the divestments of Petrobras and the new ANP auctions, Brazilian companies are looking for opportunities to monetize the production of areas that are not served by gas pipelines.
Among the new proposals currently available are a project to purchase gas from the well for sale to the market in the form of a “virtual pipeline”. The solution is offered by CDGN Logística, which does the compression of the gas and transport of the CNG by means of trucks to the final consumer. According to Luiz Alberto Rogoginsky, the company’s commercial director, depending on the distance between the field and the consumer and the price conditions, the project can be implemented in fields with average production of 10 thousand m³ / day.
“The idea is to take advantage of this gas that, for some reason, is restricted due to lack of infrastructure and market it to the market. With the increase in the production of gas onshore, Petrobras opening the market and the new areas offered, increase the opportunities, “explained the director.
Currently, the solution is already applied in the Tiê field, operated by Gran Tierra in the Recôncavo Basin, and in two Petrosynergy fields in the Potiguar Basin. The projects of both companies produce about 20 thousand m³ / day. CDGN is prospecting new clients in the Recôncavo Basin.
The solution, however, also faces logistical difficulties. West of Canoas, responsible for the operation of the homonymous field in the Barreirinhas Basin, attempted to make the field feasible through CNG runoff, but ended up opting for an integrated gas-to-power project, due to the distance of the consumer market, which is at least 200 km from the field. The director of the CDGN admits that there are limits to his performance. “Production below 5,000 m³ / day or 6,000 m³ / day is impracticable,” admits Rogoginsky.
Brazil has 270 producing fields on land, of which 215 produce at most 10 thousand m³ / day of natural gas. Together, these areas produce 270,000 m³ / day of gas, which represents less than 1% of the total land-based production in the country, which is 24 million m³ / day. One-third of these small gas producers are in the Portiguar Basin, 29% in the Recôncavo and 22% in Espírito Santo. The rest is spread by other basins (Alagoas, Sergipe and Camamu and Tucano Sul).
Other gas guidelines that should affect the pipeline market are the promotion of the commercial and operational independence of transporters; the implementation of a model of independent and integrated management of the Natural Gas Transportation System; the reassessment of the models of granting transportation and storage; and reviewing the transportation system expansion planning.
ANP did not comment on the above.
Source: Brasil Energia Online
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